Monero’s Riccardo Spagni: Bitcoin Network’s Longevity Gives it The Edge Over Other Crypto Assets

This January, Bitcoin marked a decade since its inception. The first block of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency was mined in January 2009.

Over the years, Bitcoin has captured the attention of many, including individual traders, institutional investors, regulatory agencies and notable government institutions all over the world.

Riccardo Spagni, a famous Monero developer, recently told the ‘Speaking of Crypto' podcast that one of the advantages of Bitcoin over other cryptocurrencies is its ten years of existence. Spagni believes that the longevity of Bitcoin proves that it is a robust asset. The developer also stated that the most significant advantage of Bitcoin is its network effect, which other digital assets have struggled to match.

Additionally, Spagni said that it is impossible for other assets to beat Bitcoin because they have existed for less than ten years. He further explained that the majority of Bitcoin enthusiast trust it because of its decade-long history, whereas other digital currencies lack severely in this regard.

According to Spagni, the level of dominance asserted by Bitcoin will persist for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, the Monero developer expressed confidence that other coins will service despite the supremacy of Bitcoin.

Spagni backed his assertions using the analogy of cars. Although most cars use petrol and diesel, electric and LPG-powered models are still available in the market. This means that other coins will continue to exist even if Bitcoin’s ascendancy doesn’t go away.

Regarding Ethereum, Spagni expounded on an analogy he had previously used to describe the smart contract platform. In the past, Spagni tweeted that Ethereum had achieved nothing using their' boil the ocean' strategy. Apparently, he meant that Ethereum was placing too much focus on the things that can be built on top of the blockchain, rather than focusing on improving itself.

More specifically, he stated that the approach focused on making the Ethereum blockchain capable of ‘doing everything'.

However, this strategy backfired, according to Spagni. The Ethereum blockchain can now ‘do everything', but it doesn't excel at anything. He mentioned that if Monero were to be built on top of the Ethereum network, it would significantly limit its utility. For instance, it would be difficult to create large ring signatures.

Spagni concluded by saying that focusing on everything resulted in Ethereum creating a ‘watered down' version of their blockchain network. As such, the resultant platform has poor performance and is incapable of scaling effectively.