As Bitcoin established a new all-time high on Dec 17 and smashing the $23K barrier, blockchain enthusiast and internet celebrity Kim Dotcom was quick to whip up controversy by claiming that Bitcoin Cash (BCH) will rise 850%+ from current figures to reach an astronomical price of $3000+. However, not everybody was happy to hear his statement.
The BCH Prediction Raised a lot of Eyebrows
In a tweet made on the same day, he declared that Bitcoin functions best as a store of value (SOV) while Bitcoin Cash was more suited for payments.
However, Kim’s statement raised a lot of eyebrows, forcing him to face both acknowledgment and backlash from various individuals from the Bitcoin community. Some accused him of promoting a dead chain that doesn’t have much user activity and miner fees. The well-known Bitcoin maximalist Vijay Boyapati was quick to ask which ‘BCash’ Kim was referring to since there are allegedly ‘8 of them now’, a veiled reference to the recent BCH forking.
Stephen Livera went one step further to saying Bitcoin Cash is irrelevant and Lightning Network will be sufficient to fulfill the payment requirements.
Truthbobs, however, pointed out that support there isn’t much infrastructure support for the LN network, which means there’s a high chance of payments failing and that not many merchants currently accept it.
Kim Stands Firm Despite Criticisms
As it turns out, the Lightning Network has failed to accumulate significant TVL, even falling behind other entry-level DeFi protocols. It has also been plagued by significant issues, in which funds can be stolen through known exploits or settlement can fail to happen on the Bitcoin mainnet. But the LN isn’t the only crypto network that works extremely well as a means of payment. In fact, Tether consumes the highest number of gas fees on the Ethereum network for this very reason.
Some users also expressed their surprise at using volatile cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, when the stablecoins remains a better option for insuring against value fluctuations while conducting transactions.
Bitcoin’s narrative as of late has moved towards being a digital gold or store of value rather than a mode of payments, which has been echoed even by senators and Bitcoin critiques. And this is likely the reason why the faster cheaper Bitcoin fork holds merit in Kim’s point of view.
“What do vendors and users want? Low fees, fast transactions, high security and ease of use. Vendors and users won’t hear or care about the tribal hysteria in the cryptoverse.”
However, it remains to be seen if Bitcoin Cash (BCH) could get the traction and usage it needs to reach the predicted price.
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