Is Toxic Bitcoin Maximalism Getting Less Toxic?

Next
month,
the
Bitcoin
network
will
undergo
its
fourth
halving
since
its
launch
in
2009.
In
honor
of
that
occasion,
CoinDesk
is
publishing
a
month-long
editorial
package
covering
everything
from
Bitcoin’s
changing
cultural
scene
to
the
technical
advancements
being
planned
today.

This
column
is
part
of
CoinDesk’s
“Future
of
Bitcoin”
package
published
to
coincide
with
the
fourth
Bitcoin
“halving”
in
April
2024.
It
was
previously
published
in
The
Node
newsletter,
a
daily
roundup
of
the
most
pivotal
crypto
news
on
CoinDesk
and
beyond.
You
can
subscribe
to
get
the
full



newsletter
here.

There’s
a
lot
happening
all
at
once
in
Bitcoin-land
these
days.
Following
the
launch
of
spot
market
exchange-traded
funds
(ETFs)
in
the
U.S.,
bitcoin’s
price
has
been
rocketing
up
—
regularly
setting
new
all-time
highs.
Some
of
the
world’s
most
influential
figures
—
from
former
President
Donald
Trump
to
BlackRock
CEO
Larry
Fink
—
have
lately
been
praising
crypto.
Banks
are
building
ways
to
give
their
clients
exposure
to
the
coin.

See
also:



Paul
Dylan-Ennis
—
The
Rise
and
Fall
of
Bitcoin
Culture


|
Opinion

Perhaps
the
most
significant
shift,
however,
has
been
the
changing
culture
around
the
first
and
largest
cryptocurrency.
For
years,
Bitcoin
culture
has
been

dominated
by
Bitcoin
maxis,
which
when

worn
as
a
badge-of-honor
by
insiders
means
they
believe
Bitcoin
is
the
only
blockchain
worth
building
but
is
also
a
pejorative
to
say
someone
has
a
toxic
attachment
to
bitcoin.

However,
is
it
too
much
to
say
that
these
fans
of
hard
money
are
going
a
little
…
soft?
If

“the
class
of
Bitcoin
2021”
was
dominated
by
laser-eye
maxis
who
only
ate
beef
and
attacked
people
on
Twitter,
today
it
seems
Bitcoin
is
far
less
aggro.

I’m
not
the
only
one
who
senses
the
vibe
shift.
In
a
recent
interview
with
Stacks
creator
Muneeb
Ali,
he
mentioned
that
he

has
been
getting
a
lot
less
hate
on
X.
Although
a
Bitcoin
maximalist
in
the
sense
that
Ali
thinks
anything
other
cryptocurrencies
could
do
could
be
imported
to
Bitcoin,
and
that
BTC
is
superior
money,
Ali
has
spent
the
last
decade
as
a
blockchain
developer
essentially
getting
harassed
by
his
peers
for
launching
an
altcoin.

“Honestly,
it’s
getting
much
better.
It
was
the
Dark
Ages
of
Bitcoin
before,”
Ali
said
in
a
recent
phone
interview.
“It’s
getting
a
lot
better
because
there
are
new
builders
coming
and
new
tools
being
built.
There’s
excitement
in
the
builders
community.”

Ali
is
referring
to
the
spurt
of
activity
on
Bitcoin
ever
since
Casey
Rodarmor
launched
the
Ordinals
protocol,
which
opened
the
door
to
“inscribing”
NFT-like
data
on
Bitcoin
and
inspired
a
host
of
other
innovative
ideas
to
try
out.

Mind
you,
not
everyone
is
happy
about
this.
Ever
since
Casey
Rodarmor
launched
the
Ordinals
protocol
there
has
also
been
a
raging
debate
within
the
Bitcoin
community
over
exactly
what
Bitcoin
is

for.
The
debate
is
essentially
between
two
ideological
camps,

money
crypto
versus
tech
crypto
(to
bastardize
a
term
coined
by
CoinDesk
contributor
and
ConsenSys
lawyer
Bill
Hughes).

To
find
where
you
stand
on
the
spectrum,
ask
yourself
whether
Bitcoin
is
just
and
only
“savings
technology,”
a
hard
money
solution
to
ever-inflating
fiat
currency?
Or,
is
it
also
a
platform
to
build
fun
or
useful
applications?
For
years,
Bitcoin
culture
had
been
dominated
by
the
former,
in
part
because
there
wasn’t
much
you
could
do
with
Bitcoin.

See
also:



You
Can
Be
a
Bitcoin
Maximalist
and
Like
Ethereum,
Too


|
Opinion

“Money
Bitcoin”
people
are
those
today
who
complain
about
things
like
Bitcoin-based
NFTs
and
BRC-20
tokens
“clogging
up
the
network.”
Everyday,
it’s
getting
harder
and
harder
to
say
whether
they
are
the
loudest
or
most
influential
voices
in
the
room.
That’s
because
fighting
against
technological
innovation
is
an
uphill
battle
(and
also
a
bit
hypocritical,
considering
the
Bitcoin
network
was
designed
not
to
discriminate
against
anyone,
no
matter
how
they
use
it).

To
be
fair,
there’s
nothing
necessarily
wrong
with
taking
the
position
that
bitcoin’s
first
and
primary
objective
should
be
creating
a
new
monetary
paradigm.
But
there
is
something
uncouth
about
telling
people
to
“have
fun
staying
poor”
or
to

“stay
toxic.”

It’s
common
to
hear
that

bitcoiners
developed
a
hard
shell
(to
keep
it
politic)
in
response
to
the
criticism
they
received
from
non-holders
over
the
years.
Being
proven
right
again
and
again
(at
least
in
terms
of
price)
likely
also
helped
foster
a
greater
sense
of
smug
self-satisfaction.
There’s
also
the
fact
that,
until
recently,
adopting
bitcoin
was
genuinely
a
bit
counter-cultural
–
a
way
to
“drop
out.”

“Bitcoin’s
original
culture
was
a
synthesis
of
determined
cypherpunk
and
thoughtful
libertarianism.
It
drew
on
previous
movements,
certainly,
but
this
combination
was
completely
ex
nihilo,
a
once
in
a
generation
cultural
event,”
crypto
researcher
Paul
Dylan-Ennis

wrote
in
2022.

May
it
continue
to
evolve.

See
also:



‘Greater
Fools
Are
Watching’:
Bitcoin
Is
Here
to
Stay,
Elites
Say