<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" dir="auto" class=""><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><div class="r-18u37iz css-1dbjc4n r-1awozwy r-1wtj0ep"><div class="r-1wbh5a2 r-dnmrzs css-1dbjc4n"><div class="css-1dbjc4n r-dnmrzs r-1ny4l3l r-1wbh5a2"><div class="r-18u37iz css-1dbjc4n r-1awozwy r-dnmrzs"><div dir="auto" class="r-a023e6 r-b88u0q r-bcqeeo css-bfa6kz r-18jsvk2 r-rjixqe r-qvutc0 r-3s2u2q r-1udh08x r-6koalj r-37j5jr r-1awozwy css-901oao"><font color="#0068da" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 104, 218);" class=""><u class=""><a href="https://twitter.com/agorismlabs/status/1427747624568954886" class="">https://twitter.com/agorismlabs/status/1427747624568954886</a></u></span></font></div><div dir="auto" class="r-a023e6 r-b88u0q r-bcqeeo css-bfa6kz r-18jsvk2 r-rjixqe r-qvutc0 r-3s2u2q r-1udh08x r-6koalj r-37j5jr r-1awozwy css-901oao"><font color="#0068da" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 104, 218);" class=""><u class=""><br class=""></u></span></font></div><div dir="auto" class="r-xoduu5 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-18u37iz r-1q142lx r-qvutc0 r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo"></div></div><div class="r-18u37iz r-1wbh5a2 css-1dbjc4n"><div dir="ltr" class="r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo r-rjixqe r-18u37iz r-qvutc0 r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao css-bfa6kz r-14j79pv"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><a href="https://twitter.com/agorismlabs" role="link" class="css-18t94o4 r-dnmrzs r-1loqt21 r-1wbh5a2 css-4rbku5 r-1ny4l3l css-1dbjc4n">@agorismlabs</a></span></div></div>Dr. Paul Dylan-Ennis - Lecturer/Assistant Professor, University College Dublin
DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, social tokens.</div></div></div></span></div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" dir="auto" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" dir="auto" class=""><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">(1) The problem with Bitcoin maximalism (not Bitcoin): Bitcoin emerged as a cypherpunk and crypto-anarchist reaction to an inherited financial system, which it deemed a failure. It proposed an algorithmic alternative to failed centralised institutions.</span><div class=""><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">(2) Bitcoin would be an apolitical answer to the human tendency toward corruption and collusion. It demonstrates the possibility of a decentralised currency/store-of-value. A world-historical achievement we are still reckoning with.</span></div><div class=""><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">(3) However, Bitcoin's decentralisation has always been an 'incomplete ambition' (Schneider) and in practical terms there are entrenched clusters of centralisation: early wallets, developers, mining, influence, all highly concentrated.</span></div><div class=""><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">(4) However, like all ideological movements, Bitcoiners have learned to live with these contradictions because the end goal (decentralisation) is worth it and it is preferable to living under a dysfunctional neoliberal financial system. And gains (frankly).</span></div><div class=""><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><div class="css-1dbjc4n"><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__mf09zpx94we" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">(5) For those new to crypto, there was also a civil war in Bitcoin (appox. 2015-2016) concerning a technical issue - the block size - but also over the core economic motif Bitcoin should represent: cash or gold. Gold won, w/ a infrastructural micropayment solution (LN).</span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__mf09zpx94we" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__mf09zpx94we" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">(6) The victors of the civil war have driven themselves more and more into a digital gold, store-of-value narrative concerning the collapse of the fiat system and a FOMO scarcity mindset ("have fun being poor" if you don't 'don't get it,' to echo SN).</span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__mf09zpx94we" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__mf09zpx94we" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">(7) Bitcoin set the template, literally, for other altcoins, but *some* members have always had an awkward relationship with them. Some of these critiques are definitely valid: early bitcointalk was full of altcoin scams, the ICO boom too.</span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__mf09zpx94we" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__mf09zpx94we" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><div class="r-18u37iz css-1dbjc4n r-1d09ksm r-1wbh5a2"><a href="https://twitter.com/agorismlabs/status/1427747612195794946" dir="auto" aria-label="14 hours ago" role="link" class="r-a023e6 r-1q142lx r-bcqeeo r-16dba41 css-18t94o4 r-14j79pv r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-3s2u2q css-4rbku5 r-37j5jr r-1loqt21 css-901oao" id="id__cd74scneqy"><time datetime="2021-08-17T21:42:11.000Z" class=""></time></a></div><div class="r-1joea0r css-1dbjc4n"><div class="r-18u37iz css-1dbjc4n r-1awozwy r-6koalj"><div class="css-1dbjc4n"><div class="r-18u37iz r-1h0z5md css-1dbjc4n"></div></div></div></div><div class="css-1dbjc4n"><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">(8) (Note): there were plenty of Bitcoin-related ones too. Now, I believe the source of *maximalism* specifically stems from a desire to establish Bitcoin as legitimate in contrast to the illegitimate alternatives.</span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">(9) Bitcoiners have forgotten, as Amir Taaki once said, that Bitcoin was the original shitcoin. To the maximalist, Bitcoin is somehow different. It has the largest marketcap, it has the most hashrate, it is the most valuable (let's leave YFI aside for now).</span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">(10) It is also curiously said to be the most decentralised despite how concentrated the hash rate is among a small no. of pools, despite a small number of "core" developers. Bitcoin *is* more decentralised than most alts. True, this is a legitimate claim.</span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">(11) This includes Ethereum. Bitcoin nodes: 12,000. Ethereum: 8,000. More hash rate. Somewhat fairer launch (depending on we read Satoshi's mining). And no contest compared to Polygon or Cardano, etc.</span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">(12) I think, all the same, this is a sleight of hand that hides Bitcoin's centralisation under the cloak of how it is more decentralised than the others. How legitimates itself in *contrast* to the others. Thereby not needing to face their own lack of centralisation.</span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">13) Look outward, not inward. It is a tempting and very human thing to do. To point out the flaws in adjacent systems, but never really face up to you own. When was the last time Bitcoiners really assessed those internal structures cemented post-civil war?</span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">(14) It is up to the average Joe Bitcoiner to rescue Bitcoin from this maximalist narrative because it both radically alienates what are basically the same community: the other alts, DeFi, NFTs, etc. and lets the centralisation of Bitcoin roll on quietly.</span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">(15) Further, it seems maximalism also stems from FOMO around all the exciting trends that have exploded in recent years (DAOs, DeFi especially). The plan seems to be to simply ignore or repress these radical innovations in the crypto space. Which is *absurd*!</span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">(16) Or we get slogans like 'Bitcoin is DeFi' instead of Bitcoiners working with DeFi protocols who *are trying to achieve the same thing as them.* The situation is wild and needs to be reversed before Bitcoin turns into the Facebook of crypto.</span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">(17) I believe most of us want to get back to a world where Bitcoin is part of our narrative as it was for quite a long time, but there needs to be a reckoning in the Bitcoin culture about the broadening of the culture.</span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__tl2uuo9qfj8" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo">(18) A monolithic Bitcoin culture is a fantasy. Get with the times, Jack </span></div></div></span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__mf09zpx94we" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div><div dir="auto" class="r-qvutc0 r-rjixqe r-18jsvk2 r-bnwqim r-a023e6 r-16dba41 css-901oao r-37j5jr r-bcqeeo" id="id__mf09zpx94we" lang="en"><span class="css-16my406 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 css-901oao r-bcqeeo"><br class=""></span></div></div><div class="css-1dbjc4n"></div><div class="css-1dbjc4n"><div aria-label="1 reply" role="group" class="r-18u37iz css-1dbjc4n r-1wtj0ep r-1ta3fxp r-1s2bzr4 r-1mdbhws" id="id__ji5gjltpqjl"><div class="r-18u37iz r-1h0z5md css-1dbjc4n"></div></div></div></span></div></div>
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