Is Bitcoin Maxis Acting Like A Sh*tcoin Community?
Popular Bitcoin (BTC) proponents Eric Wall and Udi Wertheimer appeared on a recent episode of Laura Shin’s crypto-focused podcast, Unchained. Wall and Wertheimer are longtime supporters of the original cryptocurrency. The duo shared their experience in the BTC community, and about Bitcoin maximalism.
Wall notes the early days of the Bitcoin community when the group discussed different ideas openly. The discussions were followed by a lot of constructive criticism as well. However, Wall noted that society and discussions have changed a lot as of today. Wall compared today’s BTC community to a sh*tcoin community, i.e. the dogmatic response to any criticism.
The duo talked about the philosophy behind Bitcoin Maximalists. Wertheimer said there are two types of BTC maximalists. One type is a reasonable maximalist, who is not too interested in the space, and BTC does the job for that person. However, the other type of maximalist, the extreme maximalist, Wertheimer said, is hard to say what they believe.
Wertheimer stated,
“It seems to be defined mostly by non-Bitcoin things. What defines Bitcoin maximalism? Well, you’re not allowed to use Ethereum.”
Wertheimer believed that the extreme maximalism stems from the ICO era of 2017, when most crypto projects were scams. Early Bitcoin users, who had made some money then, lost a lot of money to such scams. This led many to take an anti-other-crypto route.
Wall further added that Bitcoin today behaves like a “weird cult.” Also, Wall said that “Bitcoiners act like a sh*tcoin community because they follow the same kind of leaders,” referring to Micheal Saylor and Charles Hoskinson.
Bitcoin: Criticism, Defi and NFTs
Wertheimer stated that Bitcoin conferences have very few discussions about the technical aspects. In addition, he noted that the culture does not allow any criticism of BTC. Also, Wertheimer highlighted that not much has happened in the BTC roadmap in the last five years. The only standout is the Lightning Network, which Wertheimer believes didn’t make much of an impact.
Towards the end of the podcast, Shin asked the duo about Bitcoin’s place in Defi and NFT. Wertheimer replied that wrapped BTC (WBTC) exists on Ethereum for this very purpose. However, he says it is unfortunate that the BTC maximalists ignore this aspect. Regarding NFTs, Wertheimer felt that it is a shame that the BTC community distanced itself from them.
At press time, BTC was trading at $20,761.79, up 2.5% in the last 24 hours.
