No one except the most passionate Bitcoin nerds understand what is going on in the Bitcoin scaling war.
And I doubt if very many regular people care, either. Most working adults don’t have time to delve into the latest Bitcoin scaling war minutae and form an educated opinion about the future of Bitcoin. In order to really understand what’s going on, you must first have an in-depth knowledge of blockchain technology, block sizes and other really advanced programming specifics. If you’re not a programmer, not currently using Bitcoin or have a full-time job, you probably don’t have a clue what the fu*k is going on with Bitcoin. You simply don’t have time to figure it out.
Then, you have to study how Bitcoin undergoes changes to its network. It has relied on consensus, and the Bitcoin miners have pretty much been in control of deciding how Bitcoin operates in the past. But that was way before Bitcoin reached $1800 per coin.
Small business, Venture Capitalists, Big Business, Bitcoin whales, entrepreneurs, patent-seeking corporations, programmers, spineless pundits, Dragon’s Den trolls, miners and a slew of assorted passionate Bitcoin maximalists are all now vying for control of Bitcoin.
If you’re trying to figure out what’s going on, you’re going to have a very difficult time trying to find facts. It is a war zone, and the Bitcoin Twittersphere is full of personal attacks, insults, degradation, trolling, mud-slinging and a couple very rare voices of reason.
So, who is the voice of reason inside this deep and toxic Bitcoin war zone?
Not surprisingly, the unofficial Satoshi Nakamoto Twitter profile offers the most unbiased information that has helped me understand what the fu*k is going on with Bitcoin. This account released links to the patents that were connected to Segwit. I have not yet reached any solid conclusions, but the facts are beginning to look like SegWit could be a disaster for Bitcoin.
It appears that there is a big corporation behind Blockstream (the company which is pushing for SegWit) and potentially some patents connected to Blockstream as well.
Like many people, I have not delved into the specifics of these patents and studied their possible ramifications. You see, to do so, you would need to understand some really technical stuff. Like everyone else, I don’t have the in-depth knowledge to really dive deep. However, I am deeply suspicious of any corporation who is attaching patents to Bitcoin, in any capacity, small or big. Bitcoin is open source technology and it was given freely to humanity, just in the same way that nature gives us food and water. Bitcoin is a free open source gift, and it needs to remain that way.
Patents and Bitcoin do not mix. Bitcoin is the opposite of patents.
Likewise the giant egos of small-minded, pathetically hostile nerd-men and Bitcoin shouldn’t mix, either. Unfortunately, Bitcoin seems to be in a situation that has plagued humans for thousands of years:
Once small-minded men have made significant money and/or ego profits from something which was given to them for free (think water, oil, air, land, sea, ocean fish, women’s bodies, minerals), they retreat into their foul-smelling basements and make elaborate war plans in order to harness and take full control over this newly-found resource.
There is no difference between the Wild West and Bitcoin, except that Bitcoin was created by computer nerds with zero social skills. The Bitcoin gold rush is on, and only a tiny fraction of the population even understands the significance of the innovative blockchain technology which Bitcoin birthed.
There is something strange happening with Blockstream (and Bitcoin Core): a fully formed troll army (look up “Dragon’s Den”) has developed from the lead developer of Blockstream, Gregory Maxwell. Once you delve into the psychology behind Gregory Maxwell, you find a startling mix of intelligence, nerdgasm, partially-formed emotional intelligence, and a streak of mega troll. You see, most gullible people cannot see past high intelligence. They become awe struck, helpless in the face of mental brilliance, and are easily crushed into cult worship. Most people don’t think for themselves and rely on others do that for them. I see a disturbed person behind Greg Maxwell’s programming nerd façade. His public online vitriol gives him away instantly.
But guess who ends up winning in the short-term Bitcoin scaling war?
Guess who ends up having the most violent response that has the effect of mobilizing the other small-minded lizard-brained men? Psychopathological bullies who possess arcane knowledge that few possess are particularly dangerous in Bitcoin. Their intelligence fools the average gullible man and turns him into a troll soldier for the “cause”.
The greedy, foul-mouthed, lizard-brained men who don’t care about anything except their mansions, prostitutes, bank accounts and their inflated, pathological egos are involved in the Bitcoin scaling war. Do you think they care about the open source gift that Satoshi Nakamoto bestowed upon them? No, they forgot about that long ago, once their dicks got hard from the endless piles of numbers in their bank accounts.
This is the real story that no one is talking about.
What’s happening with Bitcoin has happened countless times before. It’s disturbing to watch greedy, soulless men play out this endless shameful war before all of our eyes.
Once patents get tied up into Bitcoin’s DNA, I am afraid, we could all be fucked, especially those whose businesses are enmeshed with Bitcoin. It would be a tragic and horrible thing to see Satoshi’s gift to humanity deformed, restricted and reduced to an imprisoned and patented, caged invention.
Do I have an easy answer for you?
No, but I encourage you to think for yourself. Read before forming an opinion. And be aware of the warning signs: when someone is lashing out and delivering personal attacks that serve to belittle another human being (as opposed to their ideas), look to see if patents or a big corporation is involved. There is your answer.
And now, you understand why I decided to put my energies into Dash. Dash solved the block size debate in 24 hours, a long time ago. That’s all I have to say about this. The Bitcoin war has taken years (and it has still not been resolved) what Dash solved in a 24 hour period. You cannot get more clear than that. There is something hot about a committed group of people getting along and working through differences in a grown up way. There are still debates, differences of opinons and heated arguments. But we resolve our arguments in a timely manner. And we are committed to open source technology. That’s a core belief in Dash.
DASH is like the man pictured above: attractive, social, grown up, organized but decentralized enough not to need a shirt.