Anthony Pomplinao, the renowned Bitcoin bull, took aim at those who claim Bitcoin has no use case on Wednesday with a list of what he considered to be Bitcoin’s raison d’être. We evaluate each use case in Pompliano’s list and see if it stands up to scrutiny as an authentic use case, or if his examples undermine his own argument.
Bitcoin has many use cases.
Holding is a use case.
Transacting is a use case.
Mining is a use case.
Speculating is a use case.
Bitcoin has many use cases.
— Pomp ? (@APompliano) January 22, 2020
1. Holding
Holding BTC is not a use case, in the same way that just holding cash or gold or any other asset is not a use case either. If you have ₿1 and you do nothing but hold it, then you’re really not making any kind of use of it whatsoever.
In his defense, Pompliano may have meant holding as opposed to trading, or using it as a store of value for potential use in the event of a total fiat meltdown, but holding as a concept in and of itself cannot count as a use case for Bitcoin.
2. Transacting
This is what Bitcoin was made for. The Bitcoin whitepaper sets out that Bitcoin should be a decentralized medium of exchange, so buying something with BTC is one hundred percent a use case.
3. Mining
Mining is not an end product of Bitcoin, it is the genesis of it, and therefore cannot be considered a use case. This is the same as saying that diamond and gold mining is a use case – yes it provides jobs and a global industry, but you cannot claim a method of creation as a use case.
If Bitcoin had started as a mining exercise and people then discovered they could do something with the end product then you could argue that Bitcoin usage is a use case of Bitcoin mining, but not the other way around.
4. Speculating
This is certainly another use case, the same as any other asset; gold and silver make nice jewelry, but they also allow people to make money off their changing value. The exact same principle applies to Bitcoin.
Honors Even
On balance then, Pompliano ends up with a 50/50 split on his use case examples. Speculation is undoubtedly the chief use case right now, with transactions still cumbersome and the overwhelming majority of businesses still unwilling to accept BTC.
As time goes on we may see more opportunities for Bitcoin use increase, but it is still missing the ‘killer app’ that allows it to be recognized for the great invention that it is.
