Cash v. Corn

It's been almost a year since the Bitcoin Cash hard fork and sentiment hasn't really changed. The community still feels like Ver is the antichrist and literally every day people talk about how Bitcoin Cash is a scam coin. How BCH is capitalizing on the Bitcoin name and deceiving ignorant newcomers.

In a lot of ways, they're right.

Bitcoin Cash is very clearly using some questionable marketing strategies. At the same time, this is an unregulated market, and "all is fair in love and war."

Is Bitcoin Cash or Bitcoin (Core) The Real Bitcoin?

For this, I want to access a philosophical thought experiment known as the Ship of Theseus

The way this goes is, the great hero Theseus has a ship that he sailed on to battle. During his adventures, boards would rot from the sea water, and be replaced. Each time one of the boards were removed, they were brought back to his home city, and assembled in a museum. Eventually, all of the boards in Theseus’ ship were replaced, and in the museum stood a perfect replica of his ship.

Which is the real ship?

Is it the ship--made entirely from new boards--or is it the ship in the library made entirely of the original boards, and reassembled?

Are there intrinsic metaphysical properties present in the object? Does the essence of the ship carry on to its new form? Is this new ship--completely different in every respect--the same ship? The “natural” inclination we have, is to say “yes!” We have quite a lot of experience in this regard. Our cells in our body are replaced every 7 years or so, we are effectively a completely different entity, but there’s a lasting continuity. Many cultures refer to this as a “soul.” Secular cultures would refer to this as a “ego.”

On the other hand, a ship has no “essence.” It’s existence is physical, it is a tool comprised of specific parts in a specific arrangement. The real ship is the recreated ship in the museum. All of the pieces are identical to the original ship. All of the pieces are in their appropriate place. It’s clear that the essence of a thing is simply an illusion, and the actual entity is the parts it is comprised of. We simply have difficulty not viewing the other ship as being the original due to our predisposition towards object permanence.

I am sure you have your opinion, but there’s really no correct answer on the matter.

Cash vs. Corn

Technically speaking, Roger Ver’s claim that BCH is the real Bitcoin is not really that far off. BCH is much like the ship in the museum. It is closest to the original BTC protocol. Functionally speaking, it operates in the same way as the bitcoin that existed prior to SegWit, like the Bitcoin that experienced the parabolic runup. Are his marketing strategies a bit, unethical? Probably, but in a hyper-capitalistic dog-eat-dog market, that’s what you should expect.

Bitcoin--or Bitcoin Core, if you’re a BCH fan--is the current iteration of the chain. It is also Bitcoin. It is the ship that Theseus continued to sail on; the ship that had to replace its rotting boards. For all intents and purposes it is actually the true bitcoin because it has continued on with the metaphysical essence of the original bitcoin. With that being said, none of its "boards" are the same. BTC is a completely different entity than it was before, and that's okay.

Closing Thoughts

I'm not the arbitrator of such matters. Who gives a shit about my opinion, but Ver isn't lying when he's telling new comers that Bitcoin Cash is the real Bitcoin, it is. However, Bitcoin (Core) is also the real bitcoin. All we need to do is wait and see which stays or becomes the dominant chain..or we can accept that our favorite cryptocurrency has simply split in two, and it's pointless to argue about.

What are your thoughts? Which is the real Bitcoin? Share you responses in the comments!