Since the early days of Bitcoin, people have wondered why Bitcoin and not something "better." To answer that, we must understand the properties of Bitcoin that make it unique and the only cryptocurrency suitable as a global reserve currency.

The fact is, anyone can create "the next Bitcoin" with the right intelligence and ambition. There are two main ways to create the next Bitcoin. The first way is to fork Bitcoin. The second way, of course, is to build brand-new crypto.

Forking Bitcoin is the easiest option, as all that is required is that you copy Bitcoin's source code. Bitcoin's code is open source, so you can download it off the internet. Any can alter the code to their liking and then release it to the world. Perhaps you choose to make Bitcoin faster and more scalable; maybe you decide to make Bitcoin have bigger block sizes.

It's important to note that forking bitcoin as a strategy for creating a better version of bitcoin has never worked. All Bitcoin forks have collapsed relative to fiat and relative to Bitcoin itself. If we look at the two largest forks, BCash has done the best, and that's almost gone to zero against bitcoin. The next best effort has been by BSV, which is also done for.

So let's explore the second option of creating an entirely new protocol. Solution number two is you build a new crypto that is harder, better, faster, and stronger than Bitcoin. You would gather a team of the best developers and put them to work on your new project. You would then connect with a few venture capital firms to secure funding and to pay for the project because these developers are sure to need a salary, and then you would code the new protocol into existence.

One of the first problems you'll face with starting a new protocol is that early-day developers and venture capitalists will seek compensation. Therefore, they will inevitably amass a disproportionate amount of the coins produced early in the project's life. Voila. You have just invented Solana, XRP, or one of the other 20,000 cryptos in the market today. Soon after, venture capitalists will need to dump their coins to pay their limited partners. The inevitable result is a general lack of coin distribution and, therefore, a lack of decentralization.

And it gets even worse.

By creating a new protocol and involving venture capitalists with an expectation for profits, coins issued to insiders look like an investment contract. In the United States, we use the Howey Test, which states, "The investment of money in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived from the efforts of others." is deemed a security. So now, instead of ending up with a commodity (like Bitcoin), your improvements have created an unregulated security.

Almost all, if not all, of the cryptocurrencies in existence today are likely unregistered securities. The thing about the Howey Test is you want to fail to Howey Test. If you pass the Howey Test, that means you've created a security in the eyes of the U.S. Government. And all securities must be registered with the SEC. So regulators will soon catch up to most cryptocurrency projects and deem them securities. Worse still, there are likely legal consequences of dumping securities on naive retail investors, so tread lightly and never put your personal liberties on the line just to "create a better Bitcoin." Cardano, Ethereum, and Solana are essentially software companies. They can use whatever legal moniker they want. They can pretend to have a foundation like Luna did, etc. But these are software companies creating unregistered securities.

XRP is another example. Ripple, and XRP, are software companies funded by selling unregistered securities. Ripple is being sued by the SEC for this reason. Some may say that it's okay, that they don't care about the SEC, or that they don't care about the Howey Test. That they don't care about Gary Gensler or if he thinks they are using unregistered securities. after all, XRP did an ICO in Japan or in Switzerland to try to skirt these rules. However, all these beliefs will not hold up over time. Eventually, the SEC will provide regulatory clarity, and it is almost certain that cryptos will be deemed securities. Regardless, it is doubtful the world will adopt a protocol whose supply has been pre-mined and allocated to a few early adopters disproportionately.

Ethereum, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has other reasons why it may be considered a security. For example, they have a leader and a multiyear roadmap, and developers continue to update and control the underlying code. A code they alone have access to and control to change. One glaring thing not included in Vitalik's roadmap is his leaving the project. But he's not alone. Founders rarely leave! - such is the case for Cardano, Ripple, and Polkadot. Or if they go as Jed McCaleb did, they do it in the process of dumping their bag onto the market as an exit strategy.

Crypto projects may pretend there is no one at the helm, but the fact this there is, and that alone, makes them inferior to Bitcoin.

Common crypto-project claims sound like, "We are going to make the perfect money. We're going to make it fungible; we're going to make it private. We're going to make it decentralized from the start. We're going to use zk-Snarks. We'll have to make it fungible, with no Dev fee from the block reward. We're going to use delayed proof of work. We're going to do a fair launch, just like Bitcoin." Yet nothing could be further from the truth.

To further complicate the launch of an alternative cryptocurrency, getting the word out at scale is nearly impossible. Generating a large marketing budget comes with its challenges, especially if there isn't a pre-mine of tokens or initial investors who compromise the neutrality of your new crypto from the beginning.

A remarkable thing about Bitcoin is that Bitcoin grew as a grassroots movement. It flourished under the radar, both the radar of VCs and the radar of government regulators. By the time between reached critical adoption, it was sufficiently decentralized and distributed across the globe. And in doing so, Bitcoin became a trusted commodity.

The regulatory clarity around Bitcoin also makes it inviting for community building. There are now entire podcasts and YouTube channels devoted to Bitcoin. There are meetups. Whole countries are committed to Bitcoin as well. The entire country of El Salvador has chosen to make Bitcoin Legal tender. We have Bitcoin Island in the Philippines. Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador, Bitcoin Beach Roatan, there is Bitcoin Lake in Guatemala, and more communities are popping up worldwide.

What conclusions can we come to about creating an entirely new cryptocurrency? As we said, there are two ways to do it. First, you could fork bitcoin, but no one will care. Most people know the game and understand it's likely to be a pump-and-dump scheme much like Roger Ver did, for example, with BCash, or Craig Wright has done with BSV. So forking Bitcoin will not work; it's been tried before. Anyone can try again, but there is a good chance it will probably fail in the same way that BCash and BSV did. The second option is to build a software company. But, of course, you don't call it that. You then issue an unregistered security and dump it on retail investors as part of your funding.

Since the release of the Bitcoin White Paper, Bitcoin grew under the radar. It grew up free from government interference. The founder left the project early and never sold or cashed in.

Centralized systems generally outperform decentralized systems like a Blockchain. So, blockchains are a terrible way of doing most things. The only reason most software companies are using blockchain is that they can create a token that they can then use to raise money without having to go the traditional route of registering with the SEC. And this game is rapidly ending in the U.S., whether you like that or not.

So, what's the next Bitcoin? Bitcoin is the next Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is a once-in-a-lifetime, brilliant invention or discovery. Indeed a historical invention that will likely not be repeated in the future. True digital scarcity can only be invented once. That was and is Bitcoin.