History is written by the victors, said Winston Churchill, referring to the ability of those with authority to shape public perception. But with a decentralised network, there is no single point of authority to create this uniform narrative, and through Bitcoin (available on Coinbase)’s short history the community has been free to think of the cryptocurrency however it chooses.
This has resulted in a range of perspectives, which have been compiled in a recent study titled ‘Visions of Bitcoin (available on Coinbase)’, chronicling the rise and fall of major Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) narratives within the community.
In the study, Nic Carter and his fellow researcher Hasufly have closely analysed historic posts on the Bitcoin (available on Coinbase)Talk forum, revealing how perceptions of Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) have altered over time. According to Carter, this relies heavily on prior work from Murad Mahmudov and ADAm Taché, who also outlined competing theories of Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) in previous Medium posts. 
Seven stories about Bitcoin (available on Coinbase)
Almost a decade ago, Bitcoin (available on Coinbase)’s whitepaper was published online, and the same network has been running ever since. But as it has developed, the stories surrounding it have changed significantly.
Progress therefore, has been slowed by lack of agreement on what Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) actually is. Multiple factions have emerged, all with different conceptions of how Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) should function, and different views on which direction the protocol should take.
Carter and Hasufly’s research breaks these differences down into seven distinct narratives, from the e-cash proof of concept, to a cheap p2p payments network; censorship-resistant digital gold; private and anonymous darknet currency; reserve currency for the cryptocurrency industry; programmable shared database, and uncorrelated financial asset.
“We identify seven distinct major themes that have held positions of prominence among Bitcoin (available on Coinbase)ers throughout its history. Note that these do not necessarily have to be the most influential narratives — we are instead focusing on major strains of thought that have characterized Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) users.”
Although the mETHodology used to define these seven narratives is unclear, their significance has been weighed, and mapped onto a chart illustrating how the popularity of each narrative has waxed and waned over time.

Source Medium.com
Competing narratives
While some of these narratives might peacefully coexist, with some having significant overlap and peacefully merging into each other over time, others represent a direct threat to the existence of alternative ideas.
When Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) was just a whitepaper, for example, there were relatively few narratives that could be applied—mainly the idea of “elecTron (available on Binance)ic cash proof of concept” which soon transitioned into the idea of a “cheap payments network” as the infrastructure developed.
As Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) ages, however, more and more different interpretations of the protocol emerge, and not all of them can coexist. It is unlikely, for example, that an anonymous currency could also be used in mainstream financial products like ETFs, or equally, that ‘digital gold’ can be compatible with the idea of a cheap p2p payments network.
These competing ideas came to a head with the contentious Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) cash fork of 2017, where debate over scaling techniques concealed ideological disagreements over Satoshi’s original vision and the real purpose of Bitcoin (available on Coinbase).
The dominant narratives
According to Carter, the dominant narratives today are Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) as a censorship-resistant form of elecTron (available on Binance)ic gold, Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) as a reserve currency for crypto, and Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) as an uncorrelated financial asset.
As the data shows, the idea of “Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) as a cheap payments network” has now fallen to the wayside, with the idea that Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) can function as a “digital gold” taking precedent over the idea of it providing cheap and efficient payments to populations worldwide.
The newest narrative on the chart, however, and one that Carter suggests will continue to grow, is that of Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) as an uncorrelated financial asset. This is where Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) is conceived in relation to the traditional financial world as an asset with a unique risk profile—a way of adding “Bitcoin (available on Coinbase)-flavoured risk” to diverse investment portfolios. 
This idea of Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) as a regulated financial asset, however, is probably not compatible with the idea of Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) as an “anonymous darknet currency”. A conflict which Carter suggests could be the cause of the next “Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) civil war.”
This is an outcome that is unlikely to help anyone’s cause, and the study finishes on a peaceful note, urging the community to remember that just like the people that use it, Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) itself is capable of reconciling a wide range of different views: “Bitcoin (available on Coinbase)ers are not ideologically homogeNEOus. Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) contains multitudes, and it’s important to remind ourselves of that.”