There is no such thing as a typical crypto user. This is a highly vast industry, with many different types of fans and traders. Sometimes, we break them down into whether they are institutional or retail, but that’s just one method of separating people. In reality, there are tons. But let’s take a look at one of the oldest archetypes associated with crypto– the Bitcoin Maximalist. These individuals existed from the early days of BTC, but there are many who still hold the position even in 2024.
What is a Bitcoin Maximalist?
A Bitcoin Maximalist is a person who believes that Bitcoin deserves its place as the dominant cryptocurrency, and that no other cryptocurrency acts as a worthy competitor or alternative. This perspective can manifest as a view that Bitcoin’s value will always be higher than other assets, or it can be a more abstract belief that Bitcoin is more architecturally sound and culturally meaningful than any other asset.
Key Beliefs and Principles of Bitcoin Maximalists
Bitcoin maximalists can be identified by the beliefs they hold. While not every Bitcoin maximalist will have the exact same opinion on BTC, they will definitely portray at least one or two of the following:
Bitcoin’s Architectural Superiority
Bitcoin maximalists tend to cite that Bitcoin has an unimpeachable architecture, meaning that its blockchain has never been successfully hacked or experienced any genuine downtime. Considering it was the first cryptocurrency to enter the market, this is a truly impressive feat, and sets the standard for the rest of the industry.
Ideological Superiority
Bitcoin’s whitepaper makes it tremendously obvious that it was created as a response to the corruption (whether perceived or real) found within the corporate economic world, around the 2007-2009 economic crisis. This made it into a counter-cultural icon– representing people's desire for change.
For many, Bitcoin has become synonymous with financial freedom, and while other cryptocurrencies can also offer this, Bitcoin maximalists would say that their aims and intentions are not as pure and aligned as BTC’s. This type of ideological superiority comes out mostly when Bitcoin maximalists are speaking with fans of assets that have support from venture capitalists and institutional investors, or assets that serve a purpose that seems opposed to Bitcoin’s (such as those that might be designed to improve the banking sector).
Unparalleled Decentralization
Bitcoin is arguably the most decentralized cryptocurrency in existence. It has a huge distribution of miners around the globe, it is used in many locations, and the fact that it is the oldest asset in the market means that it has a larger user base than many others. To top it all off, it does not even have an official leader or figurehead. For those who value decentralization above all, Bitcoin tends to come out as the best. Bitcoin maximalists often present the idea that a cryptocurrency’s greatest strength is its level of decentralization, which leads them to wholeheartedly support Bitcoin.
Innovative Scarcity Model
The fact that new Bitcoins can only enter circulation via cryptographic mining makes for a fascinating distribution model. It is an interesting way of releasing new assets into the market, and one that many Bitcoin maximalists resonate with. It makes for a type of meticulous, metered, scarcity model that is backed by mathematics, rather than the whims of any devs or leadership team.
It is also an intentional parallel to mining gold, which has led many Bitcoin maximalists to call it a form of digital equivalent. Whether comparing Bitcoin to gold is a truly fair analysis is something that’s definitely up for interpretation, but it is a mantra that is often repeated in Bitcoin maximalist circles.
Bitcoin’s Price
While many Bitcoin maximalists hold the position because of philosophical or ideological beliefs, there are a large number of individuals who simply believe Bitcoin is the best because it is always priced the highest. This is a simple argument that betting on Bitcoin’s monetary value is always safer than betting on other assets, as it has an unbeaten track record of being the most lucrative asset in the market.
The History of Bitcoin Maximalism
The birth of Bitcoin maximalism is a little complicated to track down. You could argue that it comes hand-in-hand with the birth of Bitcoin itself, but this might not make sense. When Bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency in the market, that would technically mean that anybody who was a crypto fan back then would also be a Bitcoin maximalist, as there would not be anything else to rally around.
Rather, it makes more sense to argue that Bitcoin maximalism arose as a movement when other cryptocurrencies started to take hold of the industry. This was around 2011, when altcoins started to hit the market. That was when it became apparent that some people were less so supporters of crypto, and more exclusively fans of BTC.
That became even more fervent when Ethereum launched in 2015, and when tokens entered the scene. As an interesting sidenote, it was actually Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, who coined the term Bitcoin maximalist, where he simply discussed the perspective without exactly criticizing it.
As time went on, other cryptocurrencies were gaining prominence, with many of them presenting themselves as alternatives to Bitcoin or newer models of blockchains that were more robust. This emboldened the debate around Bitcoin maximalism, as it pushed some people to move closer to the idea that BTC is superior. It did not help that many altcoins that emerged tried to use Bitcoin as a way of promoting themselves, whilst actually acting nefariously under the hood.
A perfect example of this is BitConnect, an asset that shared a similar name to Bitcoin, with a logo that shared a similar color scheme, but that was uncovered to be a Ponzi scheme. This left some Bitcoin maximalists to irrationally argue that almost all assets other than Bitcoin were scams or dangerous in some way.
In recent years, Bitcoin maximalism has softened a little, and so many who hold the position do not denigrate other assets in the same way, but rather just consider them as lesser. An interesting recent development that helped bolster this position actually came from the US SEC, back in 2022, when the chair, Gary Gensler, declared Bitcoin to not be a security, but remained cautious of Ethereum and all other assets. This helped separate Bitcoin from the rest of the market, which perfectly strengthened the Bitcoin maximalist position.
Challenges Facing Bitcoin Maximalism
Bitcoin maximalist is a stance that has definitely struggled to keep its footing in recent years. When very few cryptocurrencies existed, being a Bitcoin maximalist was a tremendously easy position to hold, to the point where it would be somewhat delusional to hold any other viewpoint and still be engaged in the market.
However, as time has passed, more cryptocurrencies have been created, and with them, more innovations and communities have manifested. Nowadays it can seem rare to find a full Bitcoin maximalist– or at least find people who believe in only Bitcoin’s success and achievements.
The biggest threat to Bitcoin maximalism has nothing to do with its legacy, its price, its stellar record on downtime and hacks, or its decentralized qualities. These are almost all unquestionable. Its threat comes from its lack of innovation. Bitcoin is somewhat monotone in how it functions, compared to multi-faceted blockchain ecosystems like Ethereum or Solana. You cannot exactly build on the Bitcoin network, at least not in the way people talk about when referencing fully-fledged ecosystems.
The current era of cryptocurrency activity tends to favor assets that function as more than currencies, which can be damaging to Bitcoin’s reputation. Alongside this, upgrades and changes to Bitcoin are hard to do, and its architecture, while impressive, is tough to make alterations to.
This makes Bitcoin maximalism highly vulnerable to the ideologies of those who support a more pluralist cryptocurrency world, where the innovations of different assets all help each other. When the space is viewed as less of a one-coin-to-beat-them-all scenario, and more of a pantheon top-performing blockchains all offering their best features, Bitcoin tends to fall to the wayside.
The Future of Bitcoin Maximalism
Over time, philosophies and perspectives either evolve or perish. However, it can be extremely hard to predict which of the two will occur in most cases. This is especially true with Bitcoin maximalism. It is entirely logical that Bitcoin maximalism will stay strong in the years to come, especially considering the positive updates the sector has seen, such as the release of Bitcoin NFTs (or ordinals), and the approval of Bitcoin ETFs.
However, it is also possible that Bitcoin maximalism will dissolve into a different type of philosophy, as other blockchains like Ethereum, Solana, and Cardano mature and prove their worth. A pluralist view of the industry seems to be a fitting stance in an age where so many assets function in different ways and offer different benefits.
This does not necessarily spell bad news for Bitcoin itself, as other blockchains have co-existed with it for several years already, but it does mean that Bitcoin maximalism may become a dying perspective.
One positive that Bitcoin has, which hasn’t been mentioned yet, is that developers of other blockchains respect it to an unbelievable degree. Very few developers and architects view Bitcoin as an enemy, and rather celebrate its existence. This means that even if Bitcoin maximalists cease to exist, it might not have much effect on the price of BTC, or the number of people who actively use it. The worst case scenario is that Bitcoin starts to be viewed as a type of legacy asset, where it is revered but largely avoided in favour of other assets. But there is no saying whether this would really happen, so long as Bitcoin’s price is strong and it stays unhackable.
Conclusion
Bitcoin maximalism is a mark of how enigmatic and powerful BTC is. People view it as more than an asset, but also a useful tool with a rich ideology. It is rare to come across something like this in the financial world. It is also worth pointing out that even in the crypto space, there are very few assets that even have maximalists rallying for them.
There are some Ethereum maximalists in existence, although they often diversify their portfolio as Ethereum has always been about being a breeding ground for other assets and projects. There are also a few Monero maximalists, although they tend to be more skeptical and rarer to find due to XMR’s unusually stubborn price action even during full bull markets. Outside of these assets, you do not really run into people who pledge their support to just one cryptocurrency. In other words, what Bitcoin has achieved with its user-base is magnificent, even if Bitcoin maximalism one day becomes a thing of the past.
Disclaimer
This article is sponsored by 21 Technologies Inc. and/or its subsidiaries (“Ledn”) and is for general information, discussion, or educational purposes only and is not to be construed or relied upon as constituting legal, financial, investment, accounting, tax, estate-planning, or other professional advice or recommendation. Please read Ledn’s full Risk Disclosure Statement and Disclaimers.
