Oct 25, 2022
Eric Wall, crypto blogger and investor, and Udi Wertheimer, a recovering Bitcoin maxi, discuss everything about Bitcoin Maximalism, whether BTC can survive, and whether Ethereum constitutes a threat for Bitcoin.
Show highlights:
- how Eric and Udi got involved with Bitcoin
- what Bitcoin was like in the first days
- how Bitcoin maxis appear to have a script to engage in discussions
- the philosophy behind Bitcoin maximalism
- why Eric believes Bitcoin maximalism is like a “weird cult”
- how Eric thinks that the BTC community has an unspoken rule forbidding criticisms
- whether Bitcoin has lost intellectual power
- why people have recently been turning away from Bitcoin maximalism
- why the poor Bitcoin culture doesn't mean it's the end for Bitcoin, according to Eric
- the perception of the Lightning network and how people are not interested in faster blockchains
- whether Bitcoin should increase the use cases of the blockchain, like DeFi, NFTs, and stablecoins
- El Salvador's adoption of BTC and whether it had an impact
- what happens to internet subcultures and how the behavior of Bitcoiners could be predicted
- whether Ethereum is a threat to Bitcoin
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Udi:
Eric:
Episode Links
Previous Coverage of Unchained:
- Is Bitcoin Doomed to Fail? Eric Wall and Justin Bons Face Off
- Arthur Hayes, Former Ethereum Skeptic, on Why the Merge Makes Him Bullish on ETH
Bitcoin Culture and Security
- The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin Culture by Paul J. Dylan-Ennis
- Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution by David Chapman
- Surprisingly, Tail Emission Is Not Inflationary by Peter Todd
- Justin Bond’s thread on BTC security model
- A (brief and incomplete) history of censorship in /r/Bitcoin
El Salvador:
- Previous Coverage of Unchained: Bitcoin in El Salvador: Why Would Cypherpunks Support Government-Mandated Bitcoin Adoption?
- El Salvador’s Bitcoin Paradise Is a Mirage by Nelson Rauda