As the Bitcoin behemoth grows, we should expect some of the original OGs to depart in search of decentralized alternatives and bigger gains.
The arrival of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for spot Bitcoin (BTC) has changed everything, but not just for institutions. It created a polarized market for retail crypto investors, and we’re about to see a major rebalancing as a result.
On one hand, we have mom-and-pop investors who are now getting exposure to Bitcoin via their advisers investing in spot BTC ETFs for the first time ever. It’s only a matter of time until Bitcoin becomes as common in these household portfolios as gold. On the other hand, though, we have the “OGs” of the crypto market — those that have been around since the early days and fully subscribe to the ethos of Web3. They invest in Bitcoin because of its decentralization and censorship resistance. But now that every man and his dog are adding Bitcoin to their portfolios, they’ve lost their first-mover advantage — and they're about to revolt.
From the point of view of an early Bitcoin investor, the world's biggest crypto asset has, indeed, strayed far from its original purpose — to replace the existing broken payments system. Inadvertently, it has now become part of the very system it was designed to subvert. It would be a little like discovering a hidden gem of a restaurant, only to see it explode in popularity and be taken over by a large corporation. The quality would drop, the original purpose be all but forgotten, and you’d struggle to get a seat at the table.
