Last year Ethereum forked and we got a new crypto asset called Ethereum Classic. I own Ethereum. I don’t own Ethereum Classic.
I could buy Ethereum Classic but I have not been interested in doing that as of yet. That may change.
Next week Bitcoin will fork. If you hold your Bitcoin directly, you will get Bitcoin Cash, the fork of Bitcoin, in addition to your Bitcoin.
If you hold Bitcoin at a hosted wallet or exchange that will not support the fork, like our portfolio company Coinbase, you will not get Bitcoin Cash.
I am going to keep my Bitcoin at Coinbase and pass on the opportunity to get some free Bitcoin Cash.
If, over time, Bitcoin Cash becomes interesting, I could buy some and maybe I will do that. Like I might buy some Ethereum Classic.
Yes, passing on the opportunity to get some free crypto is a missed opportunity.
But I am not sold on Bitcoin Cash, like I am not sold on Ethereum Classic. I would like these crypto assets to prove themselves in the market before I take ownership of them.
All of that said, I think forks are valuable. They allow for innovation. They allow for others to try a different model. They allow for the market to decide what is valuable and what is not.
Forks are a pain for the companies that provide the infrastructure for these crypto assets. Forks introduce instability for a period and the Ethereum fork last year is a good example of what can happen.
But all in all, I think forks are a feature not a bug in the blockchain sector. There is more good that comes from them than bad.
