"The best way to make Bitcoin fail is to believe that its success is guaranteed [...] The big compromise in a strongly decentralized system is that it's all of our jobs to look out for it."
The best way to make Bitcoin fail is to believe that its success is guaranteed. I too believe that Bitcoin is strong, but it is only strong because people will fight to protect it. If a threat arises and people sit back and do little saying, "Bitcoin is strong, the market will provide protection" then it will fail. There isn't any higher authority. Each and every user of Bitcoin is personally responsible for protecting it. We are the market, the invisible hand. Bitcoin's strength arises because people do step up and protect it, so we must never take that assumption of strength as a reason to not act. All systems have their costs and compromises. The big compromise in a strongly decenteralized system is that it all of our jobs to look out for it. Is Mankind mature enough for that kind of responsibility? I think so-- Bitcoin isn't the only thing that exists because of our collective will. "It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt.”
Not gonna lie I am one of those people who always thinks that in most cases, bitcoin is too big to fail now, considering even the outside market is now looking for more ways to get a hold of it and claim a stake in its network and worth instead of stopping it. However, at the back of my mind I know that we are still practically responsible for keeping this whole system intact and alive. This is one of the biggest reasons why I always advocate towards investing on people who are already interested about what bitcoin is, and those who already did their homework vs dry-upselling bitcoin to people who don't know shit about it. 9 times out of 10 the person with surface knowledge wouldn't paper hand and sell at the first sight of price dump, while we know what happens with full on newbies.
Also all the more reasons for us to think about expanding now more than ever, it's not enough that we remain like this cause bitcoin does not have much going for it besides its high valuation. Any other factor it is severely outclassed by other coins on the market, we must explore options to better extend our reach outside the bitcoin market and create new long-term investors besides ourselves.