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Bitcoin’s Wall’d Garden with Eric Wall

Peter McCormack

Interview | Description | Timestamps | Show Notes

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Bitcoin’s Wall’d Garden with Eric Wall - WBD644 Peter McCormack

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Eric Wall is a researcher and investor, and 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.

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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?

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00:01:56: Introductions
00:05:21: HEX and Richard Heart
00:17:25: Being the HEX Antichrist
00:26:20: PulseChain and PulseX
00:37:36: Bitcoin culture, and the bitcoiner you want to be
00:54:14: Being shunned by bitcoiners, and Maximalist toxicity
01:02:30: Saifedean Ammous, and Michael Saylor
01:19:56: Bitcoin vs Ethereum
01:42:45: Taproot Wizards
01:52:06: Tungsten cubes
02:00:39: Final comments

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