NOTE: I wrote this article 2 years ago. My opinions have changed since then but I think it’s worth reposting.
Seriously, that’s the best analogy. Michael Saylor mentioned it in the talks with Robert Breedlove, What is Money. If you’ve seen the show Heroes, you’ll understand what I’m talking about.
00:08:18 – George RR Martin SuperHero Theory from “Wild Cards”
00:09:19 – Indestructible trumps deadly
00:10:45 – Antifragile is superior – absorb your enemies capabilities
Sylar in the show has the ability to understand and absorb superpowers. That’s it.
Bitcoin can absorb every little trick that the sandbox we call altcoins can come up with. Bitcoin was the first to do NFTs, the altcoins played around with it, now NFTs are coming to Bitcoin with Liquid sidechain and Raretoshi.
Ethereum played around with DeFi, now it’s coming to Bitcoin with Sovryn DeFi.
Sylar/Bitcoin has absorbed antifragility about 6 years ago when it passed the point of no return. Unless we have a black swan event, bitcoin cannot die. Now it only dominates. And it truly dominates, if you read this post you’ll understand why there’s really no competition.
After Taproot got locked in which opens up plenty of possibilities, the next big BIP (Bitcoin Improvement Proposal) is BIP 300, commonly called Drivechain. Drivechain, when implemented, will enable bitcoin to connect with any other sidechain, making the abilities of Ethereum and similar tokens obsolete.
What is Drivechain?
Drivechain is a project that seeks to leverage sidechain technology in order to introduce additional functionality to Bitcoin. The project aims to achieve this by using pegged sidechains, which would allow any individual to move their bitcoins to a variety of pegged blockchains. This would result in a scenario in which one would be able to move their bitcoins to, for example, a pegged sidechain that supported smart contract technology, or a pegged sidechain that employed privacy technology such as ring signatures. The relationship between the mainchain (which would be the Bitcoin blockchain) and the pegged sidechains is that transferability of bitcoins would be bidirectional. Thus, one would be able to transfer their bitcoins from the mainchain to a pegged sidechain and back. The Drivechain project hopes to give bitcoin holders access to new and innovative cryptocurrency systems using the asset that they already own, bitcoin. Read it here https://www.mycryptopedia.com/drivechain-explained/
When Drivechain goes through, Bitcoin Sylar will be able to absorb pretty much any little trick in the altcoin playbook. Monero’s privacy? Stablecoins’ interoperability? Ethereum’s tokens, smart contracts.
Heard of the saying, slow and steady wins the race? Bitcoin is moving slow and steady, swallowing up market share, taking over users, creating maximalists that teach and educate and create on it.
So, is Bitcoin Sylar a hero or a villain?
Depends on your Point-of-View. He’ll be seen as a villain from Central Banks and Keynesian economists and fiat statists who are entrenched in the current system, that’s for sure. But he’ll be a hero for everyone else.