7/30/17 ANDY HOFFMAN – WHY I’M HOLDING MY BITCOIN CASH – AND CAN’T WAIT FOR AUGUST 1ST!

This article was inspired by an email communication this morning, between two of the smartest people I know, and most dedicated Bitcoiners. Reading it, helped me to coalesce my own thoughts of the extremely exciting events in Bitcoin today – and more importantly, the EXTREMELY exciting events to come post August 1st. Here are some excerpts of their conversation – which I’ll follow with my commentary…

X: I am beginning to think there are enough greater fools out there to keep the BCC (Bitcoin Cash) price at .1 BTC for a few weeks. If this happens, then a lot of us are going to end up with 10% more Bitcoin than we have today. That would be incredible for the sellers of BCC, and quite destructive for the buyers. It is also theoretically possible that BCC pumpers could extend the illusion of value up until the November SegWit2x hard fork threat. I am looking around YouTube, and there are people who are purposefully or unknowingly pumping BCC by making it appear legit. People are buying into the illusion. If only 10% of the crypto community buys into the lie, it will still provide enough of a time cushion for those of us who understand the lie to turn our BCC into 10% more Bitcoin! Chinese exchanges will trade it first, and some in the west will hesitate (rightfully) and not deal with those exchanges. However, when the first easily accessible western exchange allows it (my comment, I believe Kraken already has) there will be an overhyped situation which will bring up the price quite a bit, and benefit those of us who are ready to sell. Some greater fools will think it is a bullish sign for BCC and will want to buy more!

Y: I think it makes no sense to sell any BCC until after we know what is happening with SegWit2x. If the 2X part does not go through, we must assume Roger and Jihan will launch a full-on attack on BTC in every way they can. We need to see our BCC holdings as ammunition against any attack against BTC. If BCC is their asset that they want to pump, holding it is a hedge against any nefarious price manipulative actions they could take. I will not be selling any BCC until after we know what is happening with 2X - because it will be after 2X that Roger/Jihan will make their move.

In my view, these are all good points. However, I am not as fearful and suspicious of Bitcoin Cash. Yes, it's possible BCC is part of some grand conspiracy to take over Bitcoin, but I doubt it – and more importantly, KNOW this is not possible. So no, I have no intention of selling my Bitcoin Cash. If it “succeeds”, great – as I will have actually, for the first time in my life, received a “free lunch.” And if not, that’s just fine – as if it “fails” (i.e, falls below $50/BCC, never again to exceed it), that’s equally great for Bitcoin. And here’s why I think so…

To me, BIP 91 was an epic surrender of the “big blockers” to the inevitable – and not just the ringleader, Bitmain, but the entire NYA group; most of whom, likely have no interest in a hard fork in the first place. Frankly, I'd bet Barry Silbert forged the NYA with the aim of generated exactly the outcome that has occurred; i.e. SegWit. Clearly, 95-plus percent of the global Bitcoin community wanted it - and thus, the odds of a contentious hard fork have now plunged to essentially zero.

You see, 95-plus percent of the world could care less if Bitcoin becomes the transactional money of the world. They, like me - for more than a decade, a leading sound money advocate, who has watched the only real money the world has ever known, gold, mercilessly suppressed by the US government - simply want it to be a GENERATIONAL STORE OF VALUE. Ask anyone in Africa, Central America, South Africa, or India, to name but a few of the nation’s whose fiat toilet papers have been destroyed by government printing presses and capital controls.

I mean, a GENERATIONAL STORE OF VALUE that works GLOBALLY comes around once every few millennia, whilst new “currencies” to buy coffee come around constantly. And the funny thing about morons like Roger Ver is that Bitcoin will NEVER be used to buy coffee until it is recognized universally as a store of value superior to dollars, Euros, and Yen. This is why the economic majority is winning the scaling debate – and thus, preventing a contentious hard fork; and consequently, will destroy any attempts to break Bitcoin’s immutability. And creating an Altcoin – like BCC - with “Bitcoin” in its name won't have any impact.

As for SegWit 2x, I'm pretty sure it died when SegWit locked in last week. By November, the SegWit-enabled Bitcoin will be so powerful, any attempt to fork it will likely be laughed off, as the price would likely be well above $4,000. Thus, irrespective of its (still unclear) motive, BCC is Bitmain’s last shot at potentially salvaging a spinoff.

Based on Bitcoin’s fantastic price action, clearly the global economic majority - myself included – no longer fears BCC. Frankly, I see BCC as a pathetic attempt to save face - which, for anyone with a modicum of understanding of Bitcoin, it clearly is. That said, I am not as bearish on BCC’s prospects as most hard core Bitcoiners seem to be. And I’m not talking about my views on its likelihood to succeed as a mainstream currency, but as an investment. Which, like Steem, I wouldn't pay a penny for - but will happily hold with a zero cost basis.

In my view, crypto-currency in general – and Bitcoin specifically - is the greatest technology of our lifetime, on a par with the internet itself. Not to mention, the only potential GENERATIONAL STORE OF VALUE created, since gold and silver themselves. And frankly, the crypto EXPLOSION in May and June was so powerful, it put the dotcom blow-off to shame. And yet, this is, in my view, the very, very beginning. Heck, the subsequent "crash" wasn't even that bad, as even a POS like Ethereum is up, as of today, 4x from where it was three months ago - hacks, network freezes, ICO crashes, and SEC regulations irrespective. And though some "like" Ethereum Classic relative to other s--tcoins, it is nothing but a bastardized, but heavily marketed, form of POS Ethereum; with no use case but a supposed supply cap that no one could care less about; and a “Satoshi figure,” in Barry Silbert, who has one-thousandth of Vitalik's following and cache, and one quintillionth of Satoshi’s - or heck, core developers like Adam Back, Luke Dash Jr. and Greg Maxwell.

Yet, Ethereum Classic etc holds a mkt cap of $1.3 billion - which is chump change in the global investment community. However, that makes It the number seven crypto in size (or six, if you exclude the ultimate vanity-metric supported POS, Ripple). Why? Because there is such a scarcity of investable crypto assets, that investors - particularly, hot money speculators with billions to spend - that Ethereum Classic looks relatively attractive. For one, it has a highly recognizable name. Two - it will never be forked. Three – Silbert, a highly successful Wall Street-type promoter, is working as hard at marketing it as Charlie Lee is with Litecoin. And four, it is far more liquid than nearly any crypto, outside of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. And by the way, I have a sizable position in Litecoin, even if it's still just 6 or 7 percent of the size of my Bitcoin position. The reason being, that I consider Litecoin the ONLY other legitimate crypto.

Back to BCC, it clearly is going to happen. And clearly, we will in fact get "free" coins. "Free," in that they come at the "expense," for now, of what Bitcoin would have been (MUCH HIGHER) if the uncertainty from the BCC FUD didn't exist. However, once it becomes apparent to the majority that Bitcoin is just another Ethereum Classic-like Altcoin (most, as of yet, don't even know BCC exists), Bitcoin will likely rise, very quickly, to the aforementioned "much higher" levels - as if the BCC FUD never occurred.

And yet, BCC will still exist, just as the bastardized Ethereum Classic did post-DAO fork - which a year later, has essentially no use case. However, due to the aforementioned reasons, it maintains a $1.3 billion market cap (having surged above $2 billion at one point), despite the past month’s big crypto crash. This, compared to BCC - which is backed by some of Bitcoin’s biggest, most well-known personalities. Who, unlike Silbert with Ethereum Classic, may actually be planning to attempt Ver's scaling vision, putting significant amounts of their (real) Bitcoin profits to work in the cause.

However, even if they do, it will have ZERO impact on (real) Bitcoin’s principal use case as a GENERATIONAL STORE OF VALUE. Heck, in my view, BCC won’t even be "competing" with (real) Bitcoin to be the world's day-to-day, coffee-buying CURRENCY. The reason being, that perhaps dozens of crypto's will share this incredibly complex role - featuring thousands of types of transactions, in hundreds of countries, for 7.5 billion people; just as the dollar currently does, with 200 other fiat toilet papers. However, ONLY the post SegWit, REAL Bitcoin has the chance of providing the same specialized, non-complex function for HUMANITY that only gold and silver have to date - and will continue to do so ad infinitum, especially when the Gold Cartel is inevitably defeated. Which is, to be a GENERATIONAL STORE OF VALUE - with the added "optionality" of potentially being a major (though by no means exclusive) day to day transactional currency; which I assure you, wouldn't even be a consideration until Bitcoin’s market cap is hundreds of billions higher; thus, making hoddlers willing to actually spend it.