speculative asset

The comments come as Ethereum and Cardano are soon undergoing significant upgrades, while Bitcoin has remained largely unaltered.

Founder and CIO of crypto-focused fund Cyber Capital Justin Bons have called Bitcoin “technically one of the worst cryptocurrencies,” and a “purely speculative asset without utility” in comparison to other cryptocurrencies due to its lack of technological progress.

Bons added his two cents in an 11-part Twitter thread on Aug. 28, stating that Bitcoin and BTC’s value proposition has long deteriorated due to a broken long-term security model, comparatively weak economic qualities, and lack of capacity, programmability, and composability.

1/11) BTC is unique in that it is technically one of the worst cryptocurrencies

It has a broken long-term security model

It lacks capacity, programmability & composability

With comparatively weak economic qualities

BTC is, in fact, a purely speculative asset without utility

— Justin Bons (@Justin_Bons) August 28, 2022

Bons has been an outspoken figure in the crypto community for several years now, having established one of Europe’s oldest cryptocurrency funds (Cyber Capital) in 2016 and considering himself a full-time crypto researcher since 2014. In addition, Bons has run nodes on the Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash networks.

While Justin said he vigorously defended BTC in 2014, he said “the reality is that BTC dramatically changed since that time," with the decision to not increase the block size limit representing a “major departure from the original vision and purpose of Bitcoin.”

“The world has also moved on and progressed. I remember it used to be said that BTC would just adopt the best technologies. This thesis has obviously completely failed as BTC has no smart contracts, privacy tech, or scaling breakthroughs.”

Bons however, doesn’t appear to address the Bitcoin Lightning network, which is one of the more obvious solutions to the network's scaling problem.

Bons added that competitor networks have adopted superior token design methods, with some smart contract networks adopting fee-burning mechanisms that can trigger negative inflation rates for the token:

“BTCs economic qualities are also incredibly weak [...] BTC is competing with cryptocurrencies that can achieve negative inflation [...] due to fee burning, high capacity & high utility [...] such as ETH post-merge & alternatives such as AVAX, NEAR & EGLD.”

Without any significant technological advances or utility, Bons argues that BTC has for many people become a purely speculative asset, who continue to invest “contrary to fundamental reasons of revenue, utility & use case analysis.”

7/11) BTC has become a purely speculative asset

People, for the most part, only invest in BTC because they believe the price will go up

Operating on the same modus operandi as a Ponzi scheme investor

All contrary to fundamental reasons of revenue, utility & use case analysis

— Justin Bons (@Justin_Bons) August 28, 2022

Bons isn’t the first to use such strong language to describe Bitcoin.

In Jun. 2022, Chair of China’s Blockchain Service Network (BSN) Yifan He told Cointelegraph that “all unregulated cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin are Ponzi schemes.”

Former U.S. Treasurer and current Ripple Board Member Rosa Rios said last year in September that Bitcoin is nothing more than a speculative tool in comparison to other digital assets like XRP, which is primarily used to facilitate cross-border payments.

Related: What is the purpose of Bitcoin: Speculation or dollarization?

When it was originally launched in 2009, Bitcoin was designed as an electronic peer-to-peer cash system. Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin whitepaper addressed that any speculation regarding its value as an investment is simply a by-product of its main purpose.

The narrative surrounding Bitcoin has changed over time, with the leading cryptocurrency being seen as an inflation hedge, store of value and digital gold throughout the years.