Eric Wall and Udi Wertheimer on Why Bitcoin Maximalism Is 'Like a Shitcoin Community' - Ep. 412

Unchained

Laura Shin

News, Tech News, Business News

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 25 October 2022

⏱️ 84 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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 Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Chainalysis web3 with a16z Udi: Twitter Eric: Twitter Medium 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 With the Merge, Will Ethereum Take Over Bitcoin’s Title as Digital Gold? 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 Ultra sound money 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey all, ever since I started covering bitcoin in 2015, the community has undergone a large
0:05.7	shift.
0:06.7	This mostly occurred due to the block size wars of 2015 through 2017, but the culture of
0:11.5	the winning side has undergone an even more dramatic shift since 2017.
0:16.1	For the last couple years, bitcoin maximalism has seemed like the dominant strain of bitcoin
0:20.4	culture, at least in perception and online.
0:24.7	This past summer, some prominent bitcoiners began to speak out against maximalism, and since
0:28.9	then there's been a noticeable uptick in the number of voices denouncing it.
0:32.9	In fact, my two guests today have gone so far as to mock it.
0:37.2	Eric Wall and Udi Worthheimer and I originally planned this discussion all the way back in
0:41.3	August, but Eric came down sick right before our recording, and because my editorial calendar
0:45.7	was full, it seemed like we had missed our moment.
0:48.6	But the trend of criticizing bitcoin maximalism has not died down, and because of bitcoin's
0:53.4	prominence and importance in the overall space, it seemed to worth unpacking what happened
0:57.9	and where bitcoin goes from here.
1:00.0	Eric and Udi are bitcoins, but don't feel that believing in bitcoin requires dunking
1:04.0	on every other coin out there.
1:05.8	I found their criticisms of bitcoin maximalism refreshing and interesting, and hope that you
1:10.3	find them thought provoking as well.
1:12.4	And now onto the show.
1:14.5	Hi everyone, welcome to Unchained, your no-hi resource for all things crypto.
1:21.6	I'm your host, Laura Shin, author of The Cryptopians.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Laura Shin, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Laura Shin and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.