I know, I know! This is TL;DR material. But if you actually read up until the end, this will have you realize it is all worth your while...
Trace Mayer, a cryptocurrency legend, has always repeated in his talks Satoshi Nakamoto's words when he released Bitcoin. The following are the exact words—
“It might make sense just to get some Bitcoin in case it catches on. If enough people think the same way, that becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.” — Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, Bitcoin inventor.
But even in this bear market (crash), Bitcoin is no close to being cheap. Gone were the days of $0.01 per Bitcoin. There is simply no going back to those stages. We have proven this time and again in numerous "crashes" and "bubbles" and other doom-and-gloom all the critics have to say against Bitcoin in general. Why? Because gone were the days were only cryptography experts know about Bitcoin. It has slowly but surely spread like the plague and there is no stopping it. Not even governments. After all, bigger institutions running entire governments are already joining in on the party with OTC (over-the-counter) trades. So why destroy their shiny new toy?
No-one can deny Bitcoin is a technological advancement. It is sound money with the strictest definition. And with all technologies, they get better and better with time. It may take time, but don't get fooled. It will happen. Faster than the Internet propagated. Why? Because there is every motivation for the ever increasing number of developers, programmers, investors, and the like to do so — their greed for money.
I understand that cryptocurrency can be truly complex a topic for the new comers and can be very overwhelming. But really, it is only because it has blown out of proportions in the last year (2017) when it became a huge hype and all you hear is NOISE. Disinformation and malpractices have spread because there is every incentive for them to capitalize the hype and dissuade you to doing the right practices.
However, to truly learn about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies the "right" way is easy. All you really have to do is follow the people who started it all — Andreas Antonopolous, Trace Mayer, Richard Heart, and all other cryptocurrency OG's to set your knowledge "straight" as opposed to listening to these noise. Pick one if not all and you're in good hands.
I admit I'm only a recent fan of cryptocurrency but I have been following the space very closely for the past 2 years. I have succumbed to it. I'm simply gravitated to it. You might say I have the obsessive cryptocurrency disorder with countless hours of analysis and research invested (or "wasted" depending on how this all falls out). So if I may be bold, I think what I will have to say regarding NEO's GAS is worth your time; at least for entertainment value if not anything else.
So without further fuss, here's why I think GAS is a better buy than Bitcoin in this bear market cycle:
1. NEO is a strong altcoin being dubbed as China's Etherium.
In February 2017, NEO was 7th largest cryptocurrency in the world. You may have a prejudice against China but we all know that China has their own Facebook, their own Twitter, their own everything. With this logic, chances are high they will also have their own Etherium but with lesser coin supply in the next 10 years.
2. On a crash, Bitcoin dominance goes up to 62%. On a bull run, Bitcoin dominance goes down to 34%.
Bitcoin dominance is the percentage of Bitcoin versus "all other altcoins". For example, a 62% Bitcoin dominance means that 62% of the entire cryptocurrency value belongs to Bitcoin and 38% for all altcoins combined.
What this means essentially, though riskier, is altcoins have better returns when you buy them in the dip. That is why you choose your altcoin right. And NEO is by far the best contender when it comes to ROI multiplier versus risk.
This means that if you start acquiring Bitcoin now at $3,400, when we come back up to last year's all-time-high of $20,052, you only get 5.85 times your investment. (Calculated as $20,052 / $3,427= 5.85).
But if you acquire GAS now instead at $1.72, when we come back up to last year's all-time-high of $77.98, you will get a multiplier of 45.34 times your investment. (Calculated as $77.98 / $1.72 = 45.34).
Similarly, if you had bought Bitcoin in December 2017 at $20,052, then you are only down 5.85 times versus buying GAS where you would been down 45.34 times.
It's simple maths!
3. Bitcoin has already crashed 8 times. Each time coming back up to its previous high and even further. So will NEO and GAS.
Altcoins have always consistently responded alongside Bitcoin price. Yes, there may be slight differences here and there but you cannot deny altcoins are tied to Bitcoin — as a lingering parasite almost. When Bitcoin is up, so are altcoins. When Bitcoin is down, altcoins too!
Many will argue that altcoins will NOT follow suit what Bitcoin has done 8 times — reaching its previous "all-time-high" and further. But I will have to disagree. Firstly, Bitcoin will ALWAYS have competition because people will always find ways to compete no matter how many advanced developers there are in Bitcoin core. It is human nature to be competitive. Having better developers may look appealing but in reality, the market does not respond to basic logic.
It is just as Andreas Antonopoulos says — "money has now become an app". And there will be hundreds of thousands of them. But thanks to the further developments of atomic swaps and the Lightning Network, all cryptocurrencies can be seemlessly made to look as if they were 1 leading to a digital world currency. But that will not come until maybe 5 years from now. Lightning Network is still in beta phase.
4. Many experts say that Bitcoin will further go down to $1,000 to $1,200 range as the bottom of the bear market.
There are many price predictions and all of these will be validated in due time. Until then all price predictions are just speculation. But even then, they are worth paying attention to. After all if they are right, then buying GAS will become even the more profitable than it is now!
With that in mind, here is a "scale-based" calculation based on multipliers of Bitcoin (BTC) and GAS, and extrapolate from there:
(Please note prices may not be accurate because of Bitcoin's volatility but I hope you get the point!)
Prices are based on coinmarketcap.com 12/13/2018
Bitcoin:
all time high price = $20,052
current price price = $3,427
multiplier = (all-time-high) / (current price)
multiplier = $20,052 / $3,427
multiplier = 5.85
GAS:
all-time-high price = $77.98
current price price = $1.72
multipler = (all-time-high) / (current price)
multipler = $77.98 / $1.72
multiplier = 45.34
BTC-to-GAS ratio
BTC-to-GAS multiplier = (GAS multiplier) / (BTC multiplier)
BTC-to-GAS multiplier = 45.34 / 5.85
BTC-to-GAS multiplier = 7.75
Calculating the price of GAS when BTC=$1,200:
BTC multiplier:
= (all-time-high) / $1,200
= $20,052 / $1,200
= 16.71
GAS multiplier:
= (BTC multiplier) x (BTC-to-GAS multiplier)
= 16.71 x 7.75
= 129.50
Therefore:
GAS price when BTC=$1,200 is:
= (all-time-high) / (GAS multiplier)
= 77.98 / 129.50
= $0.602
A little insight on what it is in it for you...
So... let's compare putting your money into BTC versus GAS if is BTC=$1,200.
If you invest $1,000 into BTC...
$1,000 / $1,200 = 0.833333333 BTC
Fast forward to the next bull run and reaching its past all-time-high at $20,052 per BTC:
$20,052 x 0.833333333 = $16,709
Your $1,000 will be $16,709 if you chose BTC.
Now compare it to buying GAS instead:
$1,000 / $0.602 = 1661.13 GAS
Fast forward to the next bull run and reaching its past all-time-high at $77.98 per GAS:
$77.98 x 1661.13 = $129,534.92
Your $1,000 will be $129,534.92 if you chose GAS.
Also, you might ask... "Why buy GAS and not NEO instead? Keeping NEO generates GAS right?"
It's simple. The more GAS devalues in the bear market the more profitable it is than buying NEO! You can only generate so much GAS in your NEO. Unless this is a 20 year bear market cycle (to which case you're better off with Bitcoin), then you're better off buying GAS than NEO.
Conclusion
Of course this will not be how it will play out exactly. This is a linear calculation and estimation. The reality is, a lot of variables will come into play. But after all is said and done, this is a statistics game. There is only one true variable that will render this a non-possibility, and that is — IF altcoins will all die in the next bull run.
I'm leaning towards altcoins being more than thriving in the next bull run. Lightning Network will not shut them down. It's not like Lightning Network is not up and running right now with 4,400+ nodes and counting. There are more idiots in this world than there are bright minds. There will always be people who will always fall for the NOISE and altcoin parasites no matter how great Bitcoin already is. And guess what? Governments will not be able to do anything about it. And if they do try, they'll soon see a new form of an even more resilient one. That is the power of programmable money!