Maximalism is a public relations effort to discourage the formation of substitutes for a given coin. To the extent this is successful it may benefit existing owners by restricting supply and subsequently elevating price. However as people fail to find close substitutes, activity moves to more distant ones. In the case of electronic payments this is generally state money.

Maximalism is distinct from shitcoin awareness in that it is characterized by promotion of one Bitcoin over all others. Proponents often express the contradictory theory that no other coin could be competitive with their preferred coin. If this was the case there would be no reason to advocate for a single coin.