"Bitcoin Maximalism"?
From what I know of it, I think it's ridiculous. Bitcoin has obvious cycles (which I've documented/predicted since 2011). For a while, it was just Bitcoin on the scene, but then there was Ethereum and a few others (early 2014), and soon there were hundreds... now thousands! Some are garbage, but some are just as good or better than Bitcoin. Cryptos aren't one size fits all... many types and variations will be in demand. They don't have the same brand name recognition, so Bitcoin may always be like gold in that way. But many cryptos will be needed, for a great many things, so the idea that Bitcoin could become the only crypto with utility/value is silly.
The reason most people fall for this 'theory' is that they haven't been around long enough to see the cycles. From their perspective, the other cryptos have essentially only had a single bull market - that of 2017. They see a chart and to them it looks like a fad that didn't pan out, a tulip bulb mania. But they see Bitcoin skyrocketing, so they make the assumption that somehow Bitcoin is going to the moon and every other crypto is doomed. They see the "Bitcoin Dominance" above 70% now, and think it's going to keep going up. They lack experience, for the most part, or they'd know better. They're on a trend, and it has some momentum, but they can't see the larger cycle.
Here, check out this chart of all non-Bitcoin cryptos added together, over the past 6 years:
Prices look pretty stabilized to me, and probably about to turn upward. But regardless, even if they fall, we're NOWHERE NEAR the levels seen back in 2016. Those have been left behind forever. At some point the correction will be over. Bitcoin always leads, in bull markets, because people pile into it as the easiest currency to buy. USDollars and other major fiat currencies find their way into Bitcoin, first. So it's Bitcoin that rises at the start of a bullmarket, which is where we are right now - the start. The current bull should run through 2020, according to my calculations last year (which have been perfect so far). There's a LONG time for the so-called 'altcoins' to catch up. Like silver does, in a monetary move, after gold's big moves. Soon, money will be flowing from both fiat currency and Bitcoin, into the other valuable and functioning cryptos, and this theory will be forgotten. The best will go up by 1000 to 100000%.
I think the altcoins are at their cheapest level they'll likely ever be, right now. Sure, many will fade away, and others will show up, but the overall market is probably close to a low. When Bitcoin starts to rise again, toward that 20k previous top and beyond, we'll see the valuable (useful) cryptos skyrocket.
DRutter
