Part 1: The Bitcoin Ecosystem is a Long-Term Narrative
When it comes to holding a coin, the logic should always be independent of short-term prices. During a coin’s peak, if you choose to believe in a narrative, you should consider whether that narrative can still convince you when the price drops by 10%. If it can’t, it might be time to reassess the persuasive power of that narrative.
Some narratives only work within a specific price range, and if the price drops, it means the narrative is no longer valid. On the other hand, true narratives, in the real sense, can remain independent of price fluctuations as long as there are no fundamental changes (such as the project collapsing or a black swan event).
Temporary narratives are often used to fuel FOMO (fear of missing out) emotions, but once the price drops, there are countless reasons to refute them (perhaps before that, one should try to refute every narrative to have an objective investment strategy). Reliable and sustainable narratives, on the other hand, are used to amplify beliefs during FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) moments or even create FOMO during normal times. However, it is important to note that even if these narratives are truly independent of price, they often become excessively embellished during FOMO and are criticized during FUD.
If you are a long-term believer and choose to hold coins for the long term, you should try to avoid temporary narratives (even though sometimes they are difficult to recognize) and choose narratives that appear independent of price and naturally persuasive. Taking Bitcoin as an example, even if it crashes to 20,000 tomorrow, I can still confidently tell you that it will reach 1 million in a few years without any explanation.
Bitcoin is straightforward, and everyone understands its “eternity.” However, simplicity is becoming rare, and it is increasingly difficult to understand how long a narrative for something can last.
The cryptocurrency market is still a huge stage where seemingly complex things are used to deceive people. Some say that no matter what happens, Bitcoin will rise, while altcoins will eventually go to zero. It is reasonable to think this way because that’s how the stage works.
However, there is something different, which is the “Bitcoin ecosystem.” It may seem complex, but it is not that complicated. It is all about using Bitcoin to empower Bitcoin. Everything is related to Bitcoin and is just another aspect of Bitcoin, all designed to make Bitcoin better. From Bitcoin to Bitcoin.
The phrase “Bitcoin ecosystem” is, in my firm belief, a reliable long-term narrative. You can refute individual projects, second layers, or any popular trends associated with Bitcoin. But it is difficult to completely refute the “Bitcoin ecosystem” itself.
How do we define the “Bitcoin ecosystem”? If something is called the Bitcoin ecosystem but has no connection when more people are involved with Bitcoin or when Bitcoin is rising, or if it develops well but does not add any value to Bitcoin itself or even harms Bitcoin — then it is not needed by Bitcoin, it is meaningless for Bitcoin, and cannot be considered a part of the Bitcoin ecosystem. The remaining models that truly contribute to the development of Bitcoin will form a complete and long-lasting gameplay that will not be lost from the Bitcoin mainnet.
Even if everything in the “Bitcoin ecosystem” eventually goes to zero, the charm of these five words will ignite in a certain year, at a certain moment in the future of blockchain. This is an enduring narrative independent of price.
Beyond Bitcoin, various public chains try to refute each other, memes try to refute each other, and projects try to prove why they are necessary while others are not. Only Bitcoin cannot be refuted. Bitcoin and everything around it will continue to improve; it just takes time to prove it.
Human technology will progress, healthcare will become more advanced, the internet will prosper, and people’s lives will become happier… Beyond these parallel sentences, you can confidently add one more: Bitcoin will become better and better. What about everything surrounding Bitcoin? It won’t lag behind.
Therefore, if the endpoint of altcoins is truly zero, the endpoint of the Bitcoin ecosystem is the revival of all things, prosperity, convergence, and enlightenment.
Part 2: Atomicals is the Visible Opportunity
We have discussed why the narrative of the Bitcoin ecosystem can persist, even for “eternity.” Now, the question is how to find our own opportunities within this “eternal narrative.”
The simplest way is to take everything that web3 already has and apply it to Bitcoin.
A simple answer would be: “It should be possible since Bitcoin is the ultimate destination.” This seemingly casual response is actually the initial response of the majority, and as a result, various sub-ecosystems and projects have emerged on Bitcoin, striving to meet market demands.
At the same time, more attention is being focused on the Atomicals ecosystem.
Atomicals is not a project created by someone on a specific day. It is a natural progression of Bitcoin’s development—colored coins, Bitwork, AVM, Realm, and all other conceptual gameplay ideas that naturally emerge as Bitcoin develops. It just happens to be named “Atomicals.”
If it were up to me, I would call it the “Bitcoin Application Ecosystem (also known as Atomicals).”
Following the same logic, it is not entirely correct to simply copy everything from web3. Imitation can never surpass the original and only creates imitators. Instead, it is better to say that people enjoy comparing imitations, and the resulting popularity eventually leads to a generation of innovation.
Today, issuing coins, launching DeFi projects, playing with NFTs, or even exploring DID (Decentralized Identifiers) are all old tricks. The market definitely exists, but it is the “paradigm innovation” brewing behind these markets that represents the true new frontier. It is these “old” elements that allow people to flock in inadvertently and participate in a wave of Bitcoin ecosystem transformation.
Atomicals is a culmination of maximizing Bitcoin’s “playability” since the Taproot upgrade two years ago. Why didn’t anyone develop these ecosystems in the past decade? Innovating on Bitcoin faced countless conservatives and required a long period to change the underlying environment. The conditions for this kind of innovation only emerged in the past two years, and today’s ecosystem is the result of perfect timing, favorable conditions, and human efforts. So, don’t treat Atomicals as just another small protocol; it is completely different from those “seemingly ecosystem but actually project” projects. It is developed for Bitcoin itself, adding use cases to Bitcoin, and is truly loyal to Bitcoin with a strong binding ecosystem.
Atomicals is a truly viable ecosystem that can be explored in terms of “narrative sustainability.” Some “protocol-based” ecosystems can be criticized as a whole based on one reason, but when it comes to criticizing Atomicals, I believe you can only criticize specific sections. Do you think colored coins are not good? Or Bitwork mining? Or domain names in Realm? Or the DMINT method for issuing NFTs?
Many people think they are playing with “sub-projects” within the Bitcoin ecosystem, but in fact, Atomicals is inherently integrated with Bitcoin itself. We are tired of using terms like “native,” “orthodox,” “authentic,” “genuine,” and “fundamentalist.” In such a large ecosystem, colored coins are a module, mining coins can be seen as a module, domain names can be seen as a module, and AVM smart contracts are another module. This is what we call the “Bitcoin Application Ecosystem (also known as Atomicals).”
You can say that a particular sub-section of Atomicals is not attractive enough, but it is difficult to argue against the brand-new, highly programmable, extensible, flexible, and highly playable “Bitcoin application era” created by the “coloring” and “decoding” innovations. The general direction is correct, and as for programming methods, mining strategies, trading models, or even community culture, all the details will gradually optimize within the big framework and eventually improve.
Look, when Quark was around 130, I spoke and wrote in the same way. And now, with Quark at 30+, I still insist on saying the same things. This narrative or category of narratives has covered different market sentiment and capital rotation cycles in both high and low market conditions.
Why do I stick to the same logic during a downturn? Previous downturns were mostly influenced by external factors, and my original intention for choosing to stay is that market sentiment does not matter. Little did we know, we might already be at a turning point in history.
