This article has been further explained and amplified in the book “Q/A about Bitcoin: from the blockchain concept to the definition of the LNP/BP suite” available on Amazon.
Index
- Is it possible to have different cryptocurrencies in a free market?
- The original Maximalism
- The maximalist that is not such, or “yes bitcoin, because it is rare, but it is not necessary to be libertarian”
- Can there be different protocols for exchanging value without a reliable third party competing with each other?
- The fundamental characteristics of a basic trustless protocol
- TCP/IP and LNP/BP
- Do you want your personal currency (aka cryptocurrency)? Here it is.
When Satoshi created Bitcoin, he/she/they probably didn’t foresee such an organic evolution of the system; therefore unfortunately he/she/they has/have called the protocol in the same way as the asset traded on it.
So we have Bitcoin, intended as a protocol base layer, and bitcoin (in lower case) as a scarce “asset” – let’s call it like this for convenience – exchanged between the participants.