{"id":14322,"date":"2023-12-04T14:11:37","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T14:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=14322"},"modified":"2023-12-04T14:11:38","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T14:11:38","slug":"two-opposing-visions-of-cryptos-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=14322","title":{"rendered":"Two opposing visions of crypto\u2019s future"},"content":{"rendered":"<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"crypto\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script>\n<p>Jan3 CEO Samson Mow has said that comparing Bitcoin to crypto is like comparing \u201can aircraft to a paper airplane.\u201d Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said, \u201cIt will be a multichain world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These opposing statements are the latest front in the longest-running feud in cryptocurrency \u2014 the battle between Bitcoin (BTC) and everything else that followed. <\/p>\n<p>For the crypto masses, those individuals who hold only to a single blockchain are often referred to as the maximalists. <\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin maximalism is almost as old as Bitcoin itself, with the phenomenon emerging not long after its creation. <\/p>\n<p>According to Bitcoin educator and self-confessed Bitcoin maximalist Giacomo Zucco, maximalists hold four truths dearly:<\/p>\n<p>Everything that is not Bitcoin is a scam.Every attempt at changing Bitcoin is a scam.Every attempt at pushing people to spend Bitcoin is a scam.We shouldn\u2019t be nice to scammers.<\/p>\n<p>Even in the earliest days of blockchain, altcoins began proliferating. Most of them were low-effort forks of Bitcoin that offered little new. By 2010, the term shitcoin was born.<\/p>\n<p>In 2011, Litecoin (LTC) launched, a cryptocurrency that was similar to Bitcoin, save for a few minor tweaks to its codebase. At least, that\u2019s certainly how it began. Litecoin remains a top-20 cryptocurrency by market capitalization to this day.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Recent:\u00a0How generative AI allows one architect to reimagine ancient cities<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Over the next few years, Bitcoin developers and community members started to wonder what else might be achieved with blockchain and cryptocurrency. <\/p>\n<p>In 2014, Bitcoin developers, including Adam Back, produced the \u201cSidechains white paper,\u201d touted in some quarters as the \u201caltcoin killer.\u201d The Sidechains white paper was an ambitious document, touching on diverse topics such as contracts and zero-knowledge proofs. Today, these ideas are mostly discussed outside of Bitcoin circles, not within. <\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a small indication that whatever Bitcoin maximalism is, it can change and evolve. <\/p>\n<p>Sidechains eventually led to the Lightning Network and Liquid. But whatever sidechains accomplished for Bitcoin, they failed to kill altcoins. In reality, altcoins were just about ready to take off, like a rocket ship to the moon.<\/p>\n<h2>A very Vitalik problem<\/h2>\n<p>In 2014, Vitalik Buterin outlined the concept of Bitcoin exceptionalism in a lengthy essay, defining maximalism as \u201cthe idea that an environment of multiple competing cryptocurrencies is undesirable, that it is wrong to launch \u2018yet another coin,\u2019 and that it is both righteous and inevitable that the Bitcoin currency comes to take a monopoly position in the cryptocurrency scene.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Buterin called this \u201cBitcoin dominance maximalism\u201d or \u201cBitcoin maximalism\u201d for short, and the label stuck. Buterin also explained his skepticism regarding sidechains and their potential, citing a number of issues, including the process of moving Bitcoin onto sidechains.<\/p>\n<p>Buterin declared that Bitcoin maximalism as an ideology was already \u201cdead in the water.\u201d Naturally, Bitcoin maximalists disagreed.<\/p>\n<p>A year later, Buterin launched Ethereum, the layer-1 blockchain he\u2019d been working on since at least 2013. <\/p>\n<p>Buterin\u2019s Ethereum cleared the path for almost every altcoin nightmare that would plague Bitcoiners\u2019 dreams in the years to follow. Ethereum-fueled initial coin offering mania, decentralized finance, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and a thousand altcoins, food tokens, shitcoins and dog tokens. <\/p>\n<p>None of these features (or were they bugs?) won over Bitcoin maximalists.<\/p>\n<h2>In the Bitcoin corner<\/h2>\n<p>One of the foremost proponents of Bitcoin is Jan3 CEO Samson Mow. Through Jan3, Mow promotes hyper-Bitcoinization. For those unfamiliar with the term, hyper-Bitcoinization refers to nation-state Bitcoin adoption.<\/p>\n<p>Mow travels around the world as part of this work, acting as an ambassador for Bitcoin on the world stage. Cointelegraph caught up with Mow during his travels to ask what makes Bitcoin special and learn why so many Bitcoiners go on to reject the rest of the industry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe better question people should ask themselves is, \u2018What is the \u2018crypto\u2019 industry?\u2019\u201d said Mow. \u201cIt\u2019s largely centralized groups and companies selling tokens pretending to be decentralized. It\u2019s constant hacks and funds being stolen from insecure, unviable technology. It\u2019s the pretense that centralized blockchains are immutable. It\u2019s dog tokens, baby dog tokens, JPEGs and other random things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBitcoin has nothing to do with these things. Bitcoin is actually decentralized and immutable. Bitcoin is the restoration of money and the base of a new financial system. The gap between Bitcoin and the rest of \u2018crypto\u2019 is so massive that it\u2019s like comparing an aircraft to a paper airplane. That is why Bitcoiners reject the rest of the \u2018industry.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mow\u2019s views reflect a longstanding tradition of Bitcoin exceptionalism. It is not uncommon for Bitcoiners to hold every blockchain project launched after 2009 with little respect or regard.<\/p>\n<p>Those on the other side of the equation are no less critical of Bitcoiners and anyone else who holds to a single-chain vision of the future.<\/p>\n<h2>In the multichain corner<\/h2>\n<p>Mow\u2019s statement is in sharp contrast to recent comments from Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. The two men are as diametrically opposed as any two figures in blockchain could be.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While Mow pours scorn on the industry, Garlinghouse lauds it. Last week at the Ripple Swell Conference in Dubai, the Ripple founder fired shots at Bitcoin-only proponents when he proclaimed the future would be multichain.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">From Toronto in 2017 to now, we\u2019ve taken #RippleSwell around the world. I closed out this year\u2019s event with a fireside chat with CNBC\u2019s @dan_murphy talking about how we\u2019ll get to the next phase of enterprise crypto adoption with regulatory clarity. 1\/2 https:\/\/t.co\/kXLxeAGaEk<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) November 11, 2023<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am very bullish about a whole bunch of different things going on in crypto,\u201d said Garlinghouse. \u201cI certainly am active in trying to dissuade people from being maximalists about any particular crypto. It will be a multichain world.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Garlinghouse will be aware that while maximalists exist for many chains, including Ethereum, by far the most common form of the phenomenon is Bitcoin maximalism.<\/p>\n<p>Wallet tracking firm Cielo is among those betting on a multichain future, offering tracking services for over 250 wallets on 20 separate blockchains. Cielo Finance co-founder Matt Aaron told Cointelegraph why, in his view, blockchain is not a zero-sum game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBlockchains are designed for different use cases,\u201d said Matt. \u201cRight now, Bitcoin is the store of value; Ethereum hosts NFTs and DeFi; and layer 2s are proving their worth for things like perps, gaming and prediction markets. There\u2019s also a lot of experimentation going on with Solana and Cosmos that are building out blockchain ecosystems, and I expect there to be multiple winners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even with blockchains specializing in different areas, the industry can still offer up some surprises. One such example is Ordinals, which make it possible to put NFTs on Bitcoin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe permissionless nature of public blockchains means they can be purposed for anything you wish, of course, which is what we\u2019ve seen with Ordinals on Bitcoin. While it was never envisaged that NFTs and sub-tokens would flourish on the Bitcoin network, it\u2019s fascinating to see a fledgling multi-token ecosystem take shape. The success of Ordinals has sent network fees soaring, however, further demonstrating that the future of crypto will be multichain.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Nobody puts Carter in a corner<\/h2>\n<p>While many Bitcoiners cast themselves as punks, renegades and revolutionaries, Bitcoin maximalists are also fairly cautious and conservative as a group, preferring not to stray too far from Satoshi\u2019s light. This dichotomy lies at the heart of absolutely everything in crypto.<\/p>\n<p>For maximalists, Bitcoin is an ideological line in the sand. It is where the revolution starts and ends. For the rest of crypto, Bitcoin is only the beginning.<\/p>\n<p>For individuals in that second group, ostracization is a real possibility. Last year, prominent Bitcoin advocate Nic Carter failed a Bitcoin purity test when his VC firm invested in a project that wasn\u2019t Bitcoin.<\/p>\n<p>Following the backlash, Carter quickly dispelled the myth of his maximalist status, saying, \u201cEveryone piling on \u2014 every single one \u2014 is contrasting the real me, with a fictional, contrived version of me that they made up in their heads. I am not a \u2018Bitcoin maximalist\u2019, I have never been one, I will never be one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Carter called the moment a eulogy for maximalism. He now takes the view that there are \u201csacred\u201d tenets to Bitcoin and things that are \u201cprofane.\u201d The use of religious terminology is no accident.<\/p>\n<p>Carter states that Bitcoin is to \u201cmediate monetary transactions exclusively.\u201d Among the profane elements are the aforementioned Ordinals inscriptions for placing NFTs on Bitcoin.<\/p>\n<h2>Two diverging philosophies<\/h2>\n<p>The Taproot upgrade in 2021 was the last major update to the Bitcoin network, designed to make it easier to verify transactions swiftly. Taproot was also designed to help scale the number of transactions on the network.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Magazine:\u00a0Real AI use cases in crypto: Crypto-based AI markets, and AI financial analysis<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bitcoiners are unlikely to adopt a more cavalier approach to upgrades in the future, given that Taproot inadvertently also gave rise to \u201cprofane\u201d Ordinals inscriptions and NFTs on Bitcoin.<\/p>\n<p>Taproot is just another small battle in the long war for blockchain\u2019s soul \u2014 the battle between maximalists and everyone else.<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"bitcoin\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/bitcoin-maxis-multichains-crypto-adoption\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jan3 CEO Samson Mow has said that comparing Bitcoin to crypto is like comparing \u201can aircraft to a paper airplane.\u201d Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said, \u201cIt will be a multichain world.\u201d These opposing statements are the latest front in the longest-running feud in cryptocurrency \u2014 the battle between Bitcoin (BTC) and everything else that followed. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bitcoin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14322"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14324,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14322\/revisions\/14324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}