The Weekly Reorg: This Time Is Different

My buddy Harry Sudock has a wager with Danny Knowles of What Bitcoin Did fame concerning the prospect of a 50 BTC block reward on this new epoch. Placing apart a few fat fingers, the final time this occurred was over 4000 days in the past.

Late final Friday night time, his guess virtually hit on the very first halving block, a 40.751 BTC stunner.

Paradoxically, miners had been the massive winners at this flip of the epoch, netting simply over 100 million dollars in complete income on the day — virtually 5 instances the earlier all-time excessive.

The times across the halving, visualized as block charge charges.https://t.co/FP3PfGHAiB pic.twitter.com/xcS22GPw79

— softsimon (@softsimon_) April 21, 2024

Past the numbers, this time felt totally different. Whereas the halving is often a reminder of Bitcoin’s reliability, this yr’s occasion was something however predictable. On and off-chain, important narratives converged and culminated in an unprecedented climax. I wasn’t there for the primary halving however the earlier two occasions appeared inconsequential. In some way, block 840,000 felt prefer it ushered in a brand new period.

Culturally, Bitcoin seems to be closing in on escape velocity. 4 years in the past, you’ll’ve been hard-pressed to discover a Bitcoiner who didn’t rally underneath the maximalism flag. Sizzling off the heels of the blocksize battle and a brutal bear market, orthodoxy reigned supreme.

In the present day, the panorama is unrecognizable. Piety is brazenly mocked and many of the excessive clergymen have been exiled. Apostasy is trending. We’ve damaged out of the insular mould — everyone seems to be a Bitcoiner.

Cash for enemies

In fact, with the dominant cultural establishment having fallen, the barbarians are on the door. The holy blockchain is being pillaged and no Bitcoin node is secure. On the threat of utilizing yet one more analogy, it’s a real Berlin Wall second. Speculative mercenaries have crossed over they usually’re discovering the place fairly cozy. Ordinals, BRC20s, Runes. It’s a degen world and we’re all residing in it.

As anticipated, this defacing of Bitcoin’s sanctity isn’t sitting properly with the previous guard. They’ve been busy denouncing this conduct, adamant that heretics must be filtered ostracized. “Bitcoin should not be related to scams.” Thumping their bible, they’ve seemingly little regard for the permissionless beliefs of the system. Sinners ought to repent or burn in hell. Their tradition should prevail, lest Bitcoin has failed.

Not for the reason that Silk Street has a Bitcoin use case been so broadly controversial. Blasphemous, I do know, however hardly shocking. The free market has a manner of exposing the hypocrisy of its most ardent proponents.

I empathize with the concept that this rampant hypothesis is damaging for many of its members. Fiat has thrown the common individual’s monetary incentives so out of whack that playing is now perceived as EV+. Memecoins are Gen Z’s lottery tickets and Bitcoin memecoins are the brand new meta.

If you happen to’ve devoted your life to freedom cash within the hope of distancing your self and your family members from this precise conduct, it’s fairly miserable to see it rear its ugly head in your turf. Certainly, those that search to create worth ought to hate nothing greater than to see others throw it down the drain. However, Bitcoin makes no such ethical or moral judgment. Salvation isn’t promised or anticipated from anybody who adopts it. It’s each for the most effective of us, and the worst.

The scaling fumble

The halving additionally put a highlight on Bitcoin’s awkward technological state. Except you had been among the many privileged few with current Lightning liquidity, Bitcoin was virtually unusable as a fee methodology over the weekend. You’ll be able to think about the dunk fest on Twitter when it was urged LN nodes disable routing to keep away from expensive pressure closures.

I received’t faux there may be a straightforward manner out of this predicament. Positive, we will bury our heads within the sand and faux the present exercise is unsustainable. We will circlejerk about UTXO and channel administration.

Another choice is to meet users where they are. Drop the ideological vanity and settle for that sure tradeoffs are acceptable, if not mandatory, to construct a worldwide and dependable fee system. It’s a troublesome tablet to swallow however trust-based alternate options are each viable and, for all intents and functions, in all probability superior to the gymnastics presently required by “trustless” alternate options.

Because of this I select to stay optimistic concerning the street forward. The progress round ecash mints is awe-inspiring for those who ask me. It permits us to leverage Lightning’s energy whereas addressing the last-mile downside that has plagued it. It opens up a world of prospects for builders to enhance on current custodial options and get them out of the silos they presently function in.

In the meantime, we will proceed engaged on extra bold proposals and try to cut back or take away belief assumptions. Bitcoin’s properties shouldn’t be simply conceded for the sake of mass adoption. That stated, the satan is within the particulars and complexity typically comes on the expense of person expertise. Not all funds are the identical and most likely shouldn’t be burdened with the price of on-chain censorship resistance.

At the least from a technical perspective, that is no Bitcoin renaissance. It’s extra of a case of the whole lot previous is new once more.

From Satoshi Cube to Magic Eden.

From Counterparty to Runes.

From Digicash to Fedimints.

We’ve seen this story earlier than besides this time IS totally different.

This time we’ve got to foot the invoice for our success and the hubris that got here with it.

We will’t afford to be cute anymore. This time we’re going to need to do even higher.