In Europe, \u201cBitcoin only\u201d is a growing trend, as more and more consumers and companies are hardening their resolve that Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>)\u00a0is the only digital asset worth holding.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bitcoin-only exchanges and brokers are places to stack sats<\/a>, not \u201cgamble\u201d on Ether (ETH<\/a>), or trade \u201cgarbage\u201d that looks like \u201cventure investments.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s according to the CEOs of major Bitcoin-only exchanges and brokers, including CoinCorner, FastBitcoins, Relai, Bittr, Pocket Bitcoin and Bitcoin-lyon. Cointelegraph spoke to the CEOs and founders of these European Bitcoin brokers to find out why they are Bitcoin only, and why you should build a company on this conviction.<\/p>\n Firstly, according to Danny Brewster, CEO of FastBitcoins, \u201cBitcoin is our only hope of separating money and state; it is the one opportunity that we will have to accomplish such a feat.\u201d It\u2019s a once-in-a-generation \u2014 perhaps, lifetime \u2014 opportunity to pry the money printer from the government\u2019s hands<\/a>. <\/p>\n Julian Liniger, CEO of Relai in Switzerland, builds on the notion, adding that Bitcoin is incomparable: \u201cIt is the only asset that is truly decentralized \u2014 i.e., has no leader or leading team \u2014 and, therefore, truly uncensorable and unseizable.\u201d <\/p>\n Indeed, \u201cdigital scarcity can only be created once \u2014 i.e., the state of the world where no working cryptocurrency existed in 2008, can never be recreated, simply because Bitcoin exists today,\u201d\u00a0Ruben Waterman, CEO of Switzerland-based but Dutch-led Bittr, told Cointelegraph. <\/p>\n Brewster explains that for every new digital coin post-Bitcoin that is created, there is an inherent risk of government intervention:<\/p>\n \u201cNo government will ever let another network or technology gain as much traction as Bitcoin has accomplished ever again should Bitcoin fail.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Jimmy Chambrade, co-founder of Bitcoin-lyon \u2014 the only exchange in France where you can buy Bitcoin with paper money<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0highlighted that while separating the money from the state is key, Bitcoin is a \u201cR\u00e9sistance\u201d money. Fundamentally, \u201ccensorship resistance is essential to the freedom of individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n He explained that France was founded on \u201clibert\u00e9\u201d or freedom, and the famous painting by Eug\u00e8ne Delacroix \u201cFreedom Leading the People\u201d is so well-loved that in an incongruous twist of fate, it featured on the 100 franc fiat banknote. <\/p>\n On Bitcoin adoption, Chambrade added that \u201cphilosophically speaking, Bitcoin allows the citizen to regain financial control and gain freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n While the thread of freedom sews the Bitcoiner belief-system together, according to Matthias Koller, co-founder of Pocket Bitcoin, the underlying implications of separating the power of money creation from the government by using a \u201cmoney that works the same and is equally accessible to everyone\u201d are huge. It can \u201cchange the world,\u201d said Danny Scott, CEO of CoinCorner. <\/p>\n Bitcoin will be \u201cfor the greater good, for ourselves and others in the long term,\u201d\u00a0Scott continued, stating:<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re here to change the world, not take money from gamblers.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Interestingly, the Bitcoin-only business model brandishes a concerted effort to avoid selling \u201cgarbage,\u201d according to Brewster and Waterman, and what Scott calls \u201ctaking money from gamblers\u201d for the purchase of altcoins or \u201cshitcoins.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Every single Bitcoin-only exchange leader commented on the altcoin business model, lamenting the ease with which altcoin exchanges, such as Coinbase, Kraken and Gemini make \u201cshort term gains\u201d by selling \u201cas many shitcoins as possible.\u201d <\/p>\n Waterman continued, explaining that the more trading that goes on in an app, the more trading fees are earned, the more revenue goes up. He understands that \u201cit [altcoin sales] makes sense from a business point of view.\u201d Incidentally, Coinbase makes most<\/a> of its revenue from trading fees \u2014something Strike\u2019s Jack Mallers (another Bitcoin-only believer) has taken aim at in the past<\/a>. <\/p>\n For the Bitcoin-only brokers, the belief in the long-term benefits of adopting Bitcoin far outweighs what Scott describes as \u201cforfeiting short-term revenue by not adding the hundreds of altcoins.\u201d<\/p>\n Brewster agreed, wielding a hardline view: <\/p>\n \u201cWe are also willing to forgo early and somewhat easy profits that we could make by providing customers with yet another altcoin\/shitcoin casino, that distorts the public understanding of what Bitcoin is and why it even exists.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Scott, who is technically Brewster\u2019s neighbor, as both CoinCorner and FastBitcoins operate from the Isle of Man (a budding Bitcoin hotspot), suggested that \u201c\u2018crypto exchange\u2019 business models seem to be focused mainly around price speculation on cryptocurrencies. They appear to have lost their way and are no longer helping the wider adoption of Bitcoin as a currency.<\/p>\n Liniger added that they \u201cwant to be a savings app, not a speculation app. That\u2018s why Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency we support\u201d \u2014 everything else is \u201cspeculation.\u201d Or in Brewster\u2019s view, non-Bitcoin projects are \u201cnoise, a scam, a distraction or purely speculative,\u201d a way for insiders of a project \u201cto dump on retail at the earliest opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n 2021 was littered with examples of pump-and-dump schemes, cryptocurrencies that made up for poor utility with blockbuster marketing campaigns. The\u00a0Squid Game Token\u00a0went from $2,800 to effectively $0<\/a>;\u00a0memecoins\u00a0flew before abrupt crash-landing<\/a>; and\u00a0spotting a \u201crug pull\u201d<\/a> has become a skill in its own right for traders. <\/p>\n Ultimately, Waterman is \u201ctotally fine\u201d with \u201cplaying the long-term game at the expense of missing out on some short-term gains.\u201d <\/p>\n Store of value, digital gold<\/a> or simply a saving technology<\/a>, at the heart of each Bitcoin-only business is to make it easy and convenient for customers to buy Bitcoin. Waterman explained that \u201cit should be easy and accessible to anyone in Europe to preserve their wealth and become financially independent from the banking system.\u201d<\/p>\n Globally, Bitcoin has been gaining traction as what Michael Saylor<\/a> calls a hedge against inflation<\/a>, while Bitcoin\u2019s deflationary monetary policy and its hard cap of 21 million are growing in appeal to Europeans due to the inflationary environment in the European Union<\/a>\u00a0and the United Kingdom. <\/p>\n \u201cWe believe that Bitcoin is the best way to save money in the 21st century, and we want to give everybody access to the world\u2019s best savings technology,\u201d Liniger told Cointelegraph. Koller, a Swiss compatriot, chimed in, \u201cWe want to help and encourage our clients to use a secure and hard form of money for their savings. One that is built on sound technology and policy.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s that sound technology that separates Bitcoin from other crypto assets. Waterman explained how Bitcoin satisfies the blockchain scalability trilemma, an adequately cryptic phrase born out of the creation<\/a> of Ethereum, but which Bitcoin seemingly satisfies.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBitcoin has gained the most adoption; it\u2019s the most secure network to move value over the internet; and it\u2019s the most decentralized (as everyone can still run a Bitcoin node. Nodes are widely distributed across the world and Bitcoin cannot easily be changed, which is a feature, not a bug).\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe separation of money from the state<\/h3>\n
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Belief in Bitcoin > Taking profit from people<\/h3>\n
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Bitcoin is a savings technology <\/h3>\n
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