Yes great points in that last post ninja, and the one before too.
The discussion of bitcoin as a store of value versus the short term volatility shows the sides of our debate: I am basically arguing it is the best store of value based on its fundamental principles, and how they line up so well for bitcoin to become the best store of value. And as you highlight with your frequent reporting of the short term volatility statistics, we have a way to go before bitcoin stabilises in that respect. I assume you don't think it ever will, while I anticipate that it will - but even I believe that will take quite some time, hence my recommendation of a having a long timeframe before you invest in bitcoin - it's not for making a quick buck, unlike the "crypto" world, which is basically a series of scams and rugpulls in my opinion.
You also highlighted the challenge for bitcoin extremely well: The central banks. Yes they will try their darndest to kill it. Thankfully they will not succeed (in my opinion). For starters, I think they already would have if they could have.
There is precedent for this in history too: The Florin. The Florin became the predominant currency in the world against all odds, but it succeeded because it was simply the hardest money. The hardest money always wins. Always. There is no time in history where the hardest money has not won, despite always having seriously powerful opposition. The market will talk.
And you also raised a great point: Bitcoin has not been through a recession, so this is all new territory.
Similar to the store of value proposition, the world has shown itself as not yet understanding bitcoin yet, and therefore is not ready to trust it as an inflation hedge. The vast majority of bitcoin holders are holding it as part of a portfolio, and see it as the riskiest option, hence the shedding of it during the downturn. I feel this will be the last recession where that happens. Perhaps it has come too early for the global understanding of exactly what bitcoin is.
All of this stuff is based on the human behaviours, whereas I am zeroed in on the fundamental principles. The overwhelming feeling I get as I get deeper in this is that most of the population simply don't get this yet. But when they do, watch bitcoin explode.
Ultimately the theory with bitcoin is that if the world shifted to it as the financial standard, then boom-bust cycles would be consigned to the history books. The way bitcoin works means that these cycles would simply no longer occur. The boom-bust of the capital markets is caused by the way that fiat works, so remove fiat from the equation, and those bubbles are done with. It's a big shift, and major blue-sky thinking, but the more I read the more I think it's real, and that it will happen.
Re: XRP: Yes that could work if the fiat standard remains the way in which the world works. It would simply be a tool that disrupts the remittance market, and allows for better remitting with fiat money. But I think bitcoin is bigger than that, it revolutionises the entire financial world, not just one aspect of it. The great advantage in this area is that it is already happening successfully with bitcoin, while XRP is still just a theory, no one is actually doing this yet, or even marketing it for use to remit right now. The discussion within the US around the regulation of crypto means that entire world is being slowed down, and is mired in uncertainty. Meanwhile the SEC has made clear that bitcoin does not fall into the "crypto" definition, it is not a security, so the path forward for bitcoin is much clearer, and innovators are moving ahead strongly, and rolling out solutions right now. I think bitcoin has the jump on XRP and everything else, and is entrenching itself in this space already.
Lastly, yes, I know what you mean: We've covered so much ground, there is so much more we would like to respond to in each other's points, but it would result in much longer posts than the ones we're already writing. It's too difficult to go point by point on every little thing. But I think the discussion is flowing ok, hopefully it's interesting to people and not too much of a deluge!
If there are any particular points that have not been fleshed out from both sides, that people are interested in, then very keen for it to be raised and those can be discussed further.
I hope that the respective sides of the argument are useful to people wanting to find out more about bitcoin!