From the outside, people tend to believe that blockchain is the future. They’re not exclusively biased towards Bitcoin. However, only when one enters into the space and spends a fairly considerable amount of time would they realize that the picture is not all that glossy.
Community members, typically maximalists, usually have a particular ‘favorite coin’ and keep advocating it fervently. In effect, “we’re in for the tech” has already lost its OG luster and coin-wise stratification has become the name of the game of late.
Ripple’s CEO on maximalism, polarization, and tribalism
Well, Ripple’s CEO thinks so too. “Tribalism” around Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, according to the blockchain firm exec, is holding back the entire $2 trillion market.
Well, coin wars are not uncommon in the crypto space. The landscape usually gets overheated when, say, Bitcoin and Ethereum proponents talk about ‘flippening’. In effect, instead of staying like a whole big and united group, needless subsets are formed.
In a CNBC-hosted fireside chat at Paris Blockchain Week Summit last week, Garlinghouse said,
“Polarization isn’t healthy in my judgement.”
He went on to add,
“I own Bitcoin, I own Ether, I own some others. I am an absolute believer that this industry is going to continue to thrive… All boats can rise.”
The crypto market, as such, operates in cycles. And so far, rising tides have ended up lifting all boats in their course. Only very rarely has a major coin been left behind.
Even so, the space is filled with a host of Bitcoin maximalists who keep singing only Bitcoin’s song. Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey and MicroStrategy’s CEO Michael Saylor are a couple of such influential people.
Per Garlinghouse, maximalism only means that the crypto industry has “fractured representation” when it comes to lobbying U.S. lawmakers. Notably, President Joe Biden signed an executive order calling on the government to examine the risks and benefits of cryptos last month, and per Garlinghouse,
“The lack of coordination in Washington, D.C., amongst the crypto industry, I find to be shocking.”