Bitcoin Vs Altcoins 2 with Alex Gladstein & Erik Voorhees
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Bitcoin Vs Altcoins 2 with Alex Gladstein & Erik Voorhees - WBD425
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Location: Remotely
Date: Tuesday 16th November
Project: Human Rights Foundation & ShapeShift
Role: Chief Strategy Officer & CEO, Founder
The schism between Bitcoin maximalists, and those who champion altcoins, is a feature of the ecosystem. The arguments are well worn. However, the history of the debate has largely been regarded as toxic.
Maximalists tend to believe that, at best, ‘altcoins’ are inferior iterations of Bitcoin that involve a compromise, usually greater centralization in favour of larger transaction capacity. The compounding issue is that the majority of these tokens are scams, efforts to rug pull ignorant retail investors. Either way, altcoins are neither aligned to, nor on a trajectory to align with, Bitcoin.
Altcoin advocates point to the rapid innovation happening in the space, where the TradFi is being disrupted in real-time. This is whilst the promise of Bitcoin being a foundational layer for DeFi remains just that, a promise.
In this interview, I discuss the ideological differences between Bitcoin and altcoins with Erik Voorhees & Alex Gladstein. We discuss the importance of Bitcoin, monetary policies, the political science of blockchains, and consensus & coercion.
00:03:31: Introductions
00:04:48: Alex's introductory remarks
00:06:28: Erik's introductory remarks
00:13:40: ShapeShift's coin selection criteria
00:15:33: Bitcoin and human rights
00:21:48: Ethereum and the move to proof of stake
00:29:15: Defining coercion within protocols
00:32:33: The future of the mining infrastructure
00:36:51: Ethereum's flexible monetary policy
00:41:07: DeFi and the threat of a future systemic shock
00:55:38: Autonomy vs centralisation
01:06:37: The spectrum of decentralisation
01:12:19: Political decisions vs market decisions
01:19:47: Bitcoin vs Ethereum cultural differences
01:28:00: The long-term future of altcoins
01:31:40: Final comments
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Mentioned in the interview:
Uncovering The Hidden Costs of the Petrodollar - Alex Gladstein
Erik Voorhees: Separation of Money and State is the New Separation of Church and State
Other Relevant WBD Podcasts:
WBD417: How Bitcoin Helps Palestinians with Alex Gladstein & Fadi Elsalameen
WBD405: The Bitcoin v Crypto War with Udi Wertheimer, Crypto Cobain, Alex Gladstein & Allen Farrington
WBD383: Fighting Regulation with Decentralisation with Erik Voorhees & Udi Wertheimer
WBD380: Bitcoin & The Decentralised Future with Michael Casey
WBD369: Why Altcoins are Technically Flawed with Nadav Kohen
WBD353: From the Petrodollar to a Bitcoin Standard with Alex Gladstein & Nic Carter
WBD266: How Bitcoin is Helping Protesters in Belarus with Alex Gladstein & Jaraslau Likhachevski