Bitcoin Congestion is actually a blessing in disguise
Bitcoin Ordinals are here and apparently here to stay. But not everyone is happy about their presence. Because Ordinals increase traffic on the blockchain, experienced HODLers and those accustomed to using Bitcoin solely for its primary purpose (transactions) have raised concerns about the congestion these digital artifacts can cause.
With this in mind, it’s no surprise that when independent developer and Taproot Wizards founder Udi Wertheimer purposefully orchestrated the largest block and largest transaction in Bitcoin’s history, traditionalists were not thrilled. But for industry disruptors like him, maximizing BTC’s block size and its corresponding effects is not a cause for contention, but for celebration.
Why? Because it means that innovation is still possible on the world’s first blockchain.
Blockchain Congestion: A Good Problem to Have?
It is almost universally understood that network congestion is a problem. Congestion leads to reduced transaction speeds, increased energy requirements, higher fees and, ultimately, a decrease in user-friendliness. Yet, without a problem, there can be no solution. Recently, the crypto industry witnessed Ethereum’s energy consumption drop to almost 99.99 percent thanks to the long-awaited merger. But before the switch, congestion had to be tackled in other ways.
Ethereum survived for years before merging from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake using layer two solutions like the Polygon blockchain that helped process transactions outside of the mainnet. While Bitcoin certainly doesn’t need the same level of salvation that a merger or other overhaul can provide, with increasing congestion, layer two could act as a saving grace once again.
Currently, blockchains alongside BTC, such as the Internet Computer (ICP), Stacks, and others, have the potential to alleviate the problems afflicting Bitcoin as a result of Ordinals. By removing transactions from the Bitcoin network – which can only carry out seven transactions per second – as opposed to ICP – which can carry out 11,500 – these blockchains help loosen the grip that Ordinals get. But while this action, at face value, can be read as a big win for BTC, these tier twos will also benefit.
While congestion can hamper Bitcoin, it presents opportunities for developers, especially those working with layer two, in terms of usership and liquidity. Stacks alone has already seen a significant increase in the price of its native token, STX, as a direct result of handling Ordinals traffic. And who is to say that further benefits cannot come from the current difficulties felt on Bitcoin? This is precisely the thinking of those like Wertheimer, who feel that there is value in pushing boundaries.
Congestion as a catalyst for change
Wertheimer believes that rules need to be broken and the status quo challenged to garner renewed interest in innovation on the Bitcoin blockchain. While he believes the Bitcoin community would once have agreed with this statement, he feels it lost momentum, with the unique, creative and humorous culture once established by early crypto adopters now transferred to the NFT space.
“I feel like the Bitcoin community for the last two or three years has been very dismissive of everything that’s happened in crypto. I think that’s wrong. I think it’s very different from what Bitcoin culture used to be,” Wertheimer said in an interview with nft now. “Bitcoin culture used to be very open, very experimental. People were interested in trying things that had never been tried before, even if they didn’t know if it was going to work.”
Through Taproots Wizards, which Wertheimer launched using the aforementioned larger-than-life 4MB Bitcoin block, Wertheimer hopes to reignite that flame of innovation.
While Wertheimer is undoubtedly acting to bring excitement back to Bitcoin — as illustrated by Taproots Wizard’s “Make Bitcoin Magical Again” tagline — he says his secondary goal is to remind developers that failure is a necessary part of growth. Now seen as something of an outlier by the traditional Bitcoin community thanks to the hand he played in network congestion, and someone who exists between NFTs and BTC, he hopes to communicate a simple idea: whether it is possible to do something on the blockchain , why not try it?
“The statement we’re trying to make is: whatever the Bitcoin protocol allows us to do, we’re going to do it. Even if something is potentially harmful, then by doing it, we’re going to learn what the problems are, and then , if we need to, fix them,” Wertheimer said. “It is not possible to have software that is absolutely perfect. I think a much better approach to life, and Bitcoin as well, is that mistakes and failures are going to happen, but they should be embraced because that’s how you direct your path. This is how progress is made in all fields.”
Although Ordinals are far from being accepted by the larger Bitcoin community, thanks to Wertheimer’s actions, new calls takes place on the world’s most secure blockchain. While some might argue against fixing something that isn’t broken, as evidenced in Web3, stagnation is becoming less and less sustainable. To make the proverbial omelet of the metaverse, eggs must be broken – and beyond NFTs, according to the likes of Wertheimer, it all starts with Bitcoin.
