What Bitcoin Did with Peter McCormack
Business:Investing
“This group of Bitcoiners that we’ve cultivated for the last couple of years, they are not going to help us to grow this community by a tenfold or a hundredfold anymore. That’s a small clique of people that has now taken control.”
— Eric Wall
Eric Wall is the CIO at Arcane Assets and a crypto researcher and investor. In this interview, we discuss how Eric became a notable critical voice within the HEX community, his ongoing fight with prominent Bitcoin maximalists, and Taproot Wizards.
- - - -
What Bitcoin stands for and should be is a debate that has been raging since 2009. Bitcoin’s unique characteristics have drawn many people into its gravity. The realisation that its immaculate conception may never be replicated has resulted in many of those same people guarding Bitcoin’s development with uncompromising zeal.
The result has been the rise of Bitcoin Maximalism. Maximalist ideology can be a fuzzy concept: there are no clearly agreed rules or principles; there have been various iterations with different priorities over time. However, it is clearly characterised by conservatism over the development of the protocol, and intolerance for those with differing attitudes.
Nevertheless, that is not to say that Bitcoin development can forever remain in stasis. There are and have been pressures requiring upgrades both to the base layer, and in the development of additional layers. This means there is always a creative tension on what changes are required, and how quickly these need to be implemented.
Further, as Bitcoin has no leader, it has engendered an ecosystem where advocates organically emerge, who can gain traction and have an outsized influence on the community. This creates further tensions as Bitcoin’s purpose is being proselytized using competing and sometimes muddied beliefs.
Thus, it is important that Bitcoiners enable an open dialogue where all ideas are questioned, scrutinized and tested. And such debates should be open to all Bitcoiners, without fear or favour to any powerful interests. Is the question therefore how intolerant we should be of those with differing views? And, can we live without trolling, or is this a necessary defensive tool?
- - - -
This episode’s sponsors:
Iris Energy - Bitcoin Mining. Done Sustainably
Gemini - Buy Bitcoin instantly
Ledn - Financial services for Bitcoin hodlers
Bitcasino - The Future of Gaming is here
Ledger - State of the art Bitcoin hardware wallet
Wasabi Wallet - Privacy by default
-----
WBD644 - Show Notes
-----
If you enjoy The What Bitcoin Did Podcast you can help support the show by doing the following:
Become a Patron and get access to shows early or help contribute
Make a tip:
Bitcoin: 3FiC6w7eb3dkcaNHMAnj39ANTAkv8Ufi2S
QR Codes: Bitcoin
If you do send a tip then please email me so that I can say thank you
Subscribe on iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | Deezer | TuneIn | RSS Feed
Leave a review on iTunes
Share the show and episodes with your friends and family
Subscribe to the newsletter on my website
Follow me on Twitter Personal | Twitter Podcast | Instagram | Medium | YouTube
If you are interested in sponsoring the show, you can read more about that here or please feel free to drop me an email to discuss options.
The Bitcoin Powered Revolution with Tuur Demeester
Everything is Coming to Bitcoin with Zack Voell & Willem Schroe
Bitcoin’s Economic Incentives with Parker Lewis
Bitcoin Back on the Ballot with Avik Roy
The Fight for Bitcoin with Ben Carman & Tony Giorgio
Bitcoin is Forever Money with Michael Saylor
An Existential Threat to Bitcoin with Matt Corallo
The Bitcoin Scammer Uncensored with Junseth
Bitcoin & AI Power Scarcity with Daniel Roberts
Bitcoin vs The Fiat Decline with Macro Alf
How Bitcoin Changes the World with NVK
The Fiat Apocalypse with Lawrence Lepard & Quoth the Raven
The Power of Bitcoin with Gloria Zhao
Nobody Understands Bitcoin with Jack Mallers, American HODL, Alex Thorn & Calle
Bitcoin Mining: A Paradigm Shift in Energy with Harry Sudock, Will Roberts, Erik Hersman, Thomas Pacchia, & Dennis Porter
First They Came for Samourai with Seth for Privacy & Bitcoin Q+A
Bitcoin is Resistance Money with Andrew Bailey, Bradley Rettler, Craig Warmke, & Allen Farrington
How Bitcoin Wins with Lyn Alden, Natalie Brunell, Alex Thorn, Thomas Pacchia, & Christopher Gordon
Bitcoin & Human Rights with Alex Gladstein & Natalie Smolenski
The Economics of Bitcoin with Lyn Alden, Preston Pysh, Allen Farrington, Max Hillebrand
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The emPOWERed Half Hour
The Tucker Carlson Show
U.S Property Podcast
Aligned Money Show
Dubai Property Podcast
The Ramsey Show