by: Jaffer Ali
“There are two things which a man should scrupulously avoid; giving advice that he would not follow and asking advice when he is determined to pursue his own opinion.”
– Norm MacDonald
For new people, HODL was a misspelled version of “hold” that turned into an acronym, “Hold On for Dear Life”. It now is shorthand for those Bitcoiners who want to hold onto Bitcoin and not trade it.
What is at the essence of HODLing? Every Bitcoin HODLer I have met believes that the price of BTC will go up in the future. The logic is compelling when you match their actions with that belief. But there is a curious group of Bitcoin HODLer that maintains their stack while promoting OTHERS to spend their Bitcoin to purchase a TESLA, buy a cup of coffee, etc.
Their rationale is that they can hold two ideas at the same time. Yes, I understand. The two thoughts are; I will hold on to my Bitcoin and you should support adoption by getting others to take your Bitcoin. I am speaking of people in first world countries, not third world nations or countries with rampant inflation whereby merchants will not accept fiat.
But the advice these *dual purpose* HODLers have for others is be good Bitcoin citizens and help adoption, all the while hoarding their BTC like they were pre-1965 silver quarters. They shift the emphasis to merchants accepting BTC for goods and services. I understand the benefits to merchants. I am a merchant. When a consumer uses a credit card, they can charge back and merchant fees are generally over 3% that the merchant pays.
Consumers using a credit card not only have consumer protection laws plus get a 30-day free loan if they pay the balance within 30 days. Often cash back on purchases too. But the advice for being a good Bitcoin citizen sees adoption as a currency to be a primal objective…that is again, for others. The more convicted HODlers are, the less they want to part with *good money* and rather dispose of fiat.
Of course Satoshi’s original vision was for Bitcoin to be an uncensored, global currency. That is the gist of his white paper. But the real world has a different use case for Bitcoin; a digital property that could emerge as a store of value. Some liken it to gold. This is why 65% of BTC has not moved from wallets in more than a year. These people are not using it for buying coffee, land, or a Tesla. They are treating it as either an asset or hoping it to become one.
Putting aside the use case that Alex Gladstein makes (which is compelling for underdeveloped counties), the shift from consumer HODL to merchant is troubling. The common refrain is that consumers can spend BTC with a merchant and immediately buy more BTC, and therefore do not lose anything. Of course the merchant is always free to use fiat to purchase BTC. Optionality for the merchant is important as is the optionality for consumers.
I find advice to spend Bitcoin while HODLing problematic. I personally do not give BTC advice. I did not give ANYONE advice to get vaxed or not vaxed even when asked. At most I would only say what I did (not vaxed if you are wondering). If anyone asks me for advice about Bitcoin, the most I will do is tell them what I do.
But if someone gives vax advice that they personally do not take themselves, what would you think of them? The same pertains to Bitcoin advice. We should not just to ignore these people, but they should be ostracized and shunned. I might be a bit harsh. They are a confused lot who have not understood that Bitcoin adoption as a currency and adoption as a store of value are at odds.
[One more time for emphasis, I am not speaking of the unbanked or nations that are experiencing a Weimar-like inflation of their currency]
There is a lot of misunderstanding regarding the Bitcoin value thesis. The confusion surrounds either utility or thinking an attribute of value is the same as value. An attribute of BTC’s value could be; scarcity; transportability; divisibility; security; censorless or any number of other attributes. People make purchasing decisions based upon how much they like one or more attributes of a *thing*.
But whatever your opinion is about Bitcoin, it may be best to limit one’s advice to what the advice giver actually does.
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Jaffer is the CEO of PulseTV and TrySERA and can be followed on Twitter @Jaffer_Ali1
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