What Is A Bitcoin Maximalist?

The term Bitcoin Maximalist or Maximalism often gets thrown around, especially on Crypto Twitter or on certain Reddit threads. Some use it as an insult, while others proudly accept the title. Depending on who you’re talking to, the term Bitcoin Maximalist can be either positive or negative.

Bitcoin Maximalist Meaning

Bitcoin Maximalist refers to those individuals who are absolutely convicted in Bitcoin’s utility as a store of value and its status as ‘digital gold’.

To be a Bitcoin Maximalist means that you believe Bitcoin is the one true cryptocurrency and all others are redundant, only taking away from the value of Bitcoin. In fact, what are commonly referred to as “altcoins” in the crypto sphere are unironically also called “shit coins” by Bitcoin Maximalists.

Bitcoin Maxis Meaning

Bitcoin Maxis (short for Maximalists) are those Bitcoin superfigures, investors, and analysts that believe Bitcoin is the supreme cryptocurrency and the only digital asset that will be needed in the future.

Cryptocurrency Ethical Issues & Their Respective Bitcoin Arguments

There are many ethical issues such as bad CeFi crypto services and cryptocurrencies that have been revealed as of late — to which Bitcoin Maxis frequently critique.

The first is the utility and quality of altcoins. During the current bear markets, 72 of the top 100 cryptocurrencies have fallen by 90% or more. Therefore, Bitcoin Maxis frequently critique these coins and their utility and value. For example, coins like LUNA and CEL.

The second is the practices of various CeFi crypto services and DeFi protocols, which often rug pull their investors or engage in risky trading and lending behaviors. Much of this is very relevant today as you’re seeing with companies like BlockFi, Celsius, 3AC, and many others. Bitcoin Maxis have been very active on Twitter giving their inputs on this and frequently pointing out fraudulent APYs such as in the 100% and above, saying «not your keys, not your coins,» and recommending their followers to take their coins off of those lending exchanges.

Bitcoin Maxis are generally very good at analyzing the problems with centralized ‘DeFi’ lending practices, however, many of them are not necesarily experts in smart contract platforms, Web3 infrastructures, layer 2s, and other Web3 segments as they generally focus their analyis on the real economy, the global financial situation, and the role of Bitcoin as a future world currency.

Bitcoin Maximalist Argument

Metcalfe’s Law

The belief that shit coins take value away from Bitcoin is derived from what is known as Metcalfe’s Law, or the network effect. This law can be used to denote the value of a variety of different networks, from social networking to telecommunications to the Internet itself. It is expressed as n(n-1)/2, which shows the number of possible unique connections in a network, with n representing each “node” or user.

The idea is that the more unique connections a network has, the more value is added to that network. So, in theory, the more alt coins are developed, the more nodes or users are taken away from Bitcoin’s network, therefore devaluing it. While Metcalfe’s Law does have both logic and merit, it doesn’t quite justify the “one coin to rule them all” stance. It assumes that just because a user backs or uses an altcoin, they are no longer invested or heavily involved in Bitcoin. This just isn’t the case. Bitcoin is the oldest and most well-known cryptocurrency, and it is unlikely that a person buying into an altcoin isn’t already a part of the Bitcoin network or plans to abandon it.

Altcoins vs. Bitcoin

Another important point to note is that competition at the right level can bring about innovation. Still, when a market becomes overly saturated with similar products, they begin to branch out into specific niches and specializations. This often leads to one of two things. Either the market itself becomes very diverse, and there is no longer great competition between products, or you end up with a market full of similar but slightly different products all competing for the same market.

Interestingly, when you look at the Bitcoin Dominance Chart, BTC’s dominance of the market has continually fallen for years, which signifies the rise of altcoins and other cryptocurrencies that investors deem worthy of buying and holding. While this doesn’t dampen Bitcoin Maxis’ perceptions of Bitcoin’s value relative to these other cryptocurrencies, it does point to an overall trend of more coins in the market.

Well-Known & Famous Bitcoin Maxis

The most popular Bitcoin Maxi is Microstrategy Founder Michael Saylor, who’s also the single largest individual holder of BTC. However, there are many more. Most of the Bitcoin Maxis are the people invited to the annual Bitcoin Miami event or who speak at global Bitcoin conferences.

Key Takeaway

In the end, where you decide to put your faith is up to you. As long as you do your due diligence and make sure you’re aware of what you’re getting into, there are no right or wrong answers. The key is to make sure that whatever you are investing in, and however you choose to invest, be it spot trading or contracts, you are doing it on a secure, up-to-date crypto trading platform that has the user in mind — like Phemex.