in Bitcoin

Vitalik Buterin: The decentralization of Bitcoin will help it survive, but not grow

Vitalik Buterin: The decentralization of Bitcoin will help it survive, but not grow


Vitalik Buterin, co – founder of Ethereum, posted a Twitter thread in which he revisits some of his views from previous years and takes the opportunity to talk about bitcoin and its decentralization.

According to Buterin, the decentralization of Bitcoin is not enough for the successful emergence of this network in the face of the extreme control systems imposed by governments. While not citing examples or citing specific cases, Ethereum’s co – founder acknowledged that bitcoin technology is, in essence, immune to censorship.

The decentralization of bitcoin would allow it to “survive” in the face of an extremely hostile regulatory climate, but it could not be successful. A successful strategy to combat censorship requires a combination of technical robustness and public legitimacy. – Vitalik Buterin, co – founder of Ethereum

In the tweet mentioned above, Buterin points out that bitcoin could hardly survive in a very tight regulatory environment. However, the traits he sees as necessary to successfully overcome censorship are two of bitcoin’s strengths. While it is valid to acknowledge that the basic currency framework still has a long way to go in terms of “ technical robustness and public legitimacy“, Bitcoin is certainly one step ahead of altcoins.

In fact, 2021 was an important year for the decentralization of bitcoin. China’s bitcoin veto forced miners to migrate to other latitudes, distributing half of the total hashrate of this network, which remained concentrated in the Asian giant, among several countries.

In terms of technological development, bitcoin is one of the most advanced cryptocurrency projects, despite the lack of strong funding.

Bitcoin and regulation

It is essential to keep in mind that the bitcoin community is made up of three groups primarily responsible for its growth and success: its developers, its miners, and its users.

Bitcoin developers have a duty to improve the efficiency with which the network operates and to maintain the liberal philosophy born of it. The power of the network is miners, keeping it secure and active with the power provided by their hardware. Meanwhile, users of this cryptocurrency are responsible for promoting its use and adoption, as well as ensuring that the work of the developers is in favor of most and not only themselves.

It is also important to note that most of the mechanisms used by governments to regulate, or even prohibit, the use of bitcoin are at the crossroads between this cryptocurrency and the traditional financial system. That is, exchange houses, stock exchanges, banks, etc. Bitcoin, as Buterin himself says, he has a native system that resists censorship.

Regarding the promotion of the use of bitcoin, the co – founder of Ethereum made an interesting comment that he confirmed himself during his recent trip to Argentina. While the acceptance of cryptocurrencies is high in this country, stablecoins are very well accepted on a commercial basis. This suggests that many people are still relying more heavily on traditional financial systems, even if they come in the form of blockchain.

Vitalik Buterin also talked about Ethereum and other altcoins.

Buterin is, logically, someone in favor of coexisting bitcoin with other cryptocurrencies, or altcoins, as they are called in the bitcoin ecosystem. He reinforced this idea in his recent tweet.

According to the co – founder of Ethereum, there are three arguments he already considered in 2013 and still adheres to, which coexist various blockchains and cryptocurrencies that are not necessarily related.

The first is ” Different blockchains optimize the achievement of different goals“. Second, ” the costs of blockchain presence are quite low“. By this, the co – founder of Ethereum means that maintaining multiple blockchains that can interact with each other is not as expensive as it seems. Although he later admits that he is much heavier than he thought. Finally, according to Buterin, it is important to have an alternative to bitcoin, for fear that the work of the major developers will have a negative impact on the network.

While he has made such arguments in favor of altcoins, Buterin admits that these arguments are much less forceful today. However, for him, if the development of a second-tier solution (like the Bitcoin Lightning network) can be a more efficient answer than the collective of cryptocurrencies and blockchain, this type of technology presents limitations that a key chain would not face.

Related posts:

Can Solana remain the dominant PoS chain despite ongoing outages?Can Solana remain the dominant PoS chain despite ongoing outages? Vitalik Buterin Proposes New Changes to Ethereum Gas ChargeVitalik Buterin Proposes New Changes to Ethereum Gas Charge Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins analysis: This week you chose Solana (SOL)Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins analysis: This week you chose Solana (SOL) Strengthens Bitcoin Network as High Time Mining Difficulty Records of 31.251TStrengthens Bitcoin Network as High Time Mining Difficulty Records of 31.251T
Japanese brokerage firm Nomura offers bitcoin (BTC) contracts.

Japanese brokerage firm Nomura offers bitcoin (BTC) contracts.
Bitcoin: 7 consecutive weeks in the red (record!)

Bitcoin: 7 consecutive weeks in the red (record!)