The cultural tone of the entire ecosystem has shifted wildly in the last few years. “Bitcoin Maximalists” have essentially faded off into the background in terms of having any kind of cultural influence or impact at all.
Dominant narratives, actual actions, and real impact has become completely dominated by either the Suitcoiners, clownish Wall Street types building the exact same kind of degenerate leveraged financial products on top of Bitcoin that caused the 2008 financial crisis, or the Degens, completely degenerate Ordinals obsessed cypherpunks with a moronic fixation on the notion of ascribing ownership to jpegs stored on the blockchain.
It’s frankly kind of disgusting and embarrassing that things have gotten to this point in this space. All meaningful drivers to growth and adoption are pulling people into a culture of brain dead suit-think completely devoid of any understanding or grasp of the true value that Bitcoin offers, censorship resistance and decentralization, or a culture of using those things for the stupidest most meaningless drivel imaginable rather than truly impactful uses that can change lives in a positive way.
But here we are nonetheless.
These two opposite and self-reinforcing echo chambers are dominating the stage. They are running the biggest booths ushering new entrants into the ecosystem. Yes, individuals can and will walk their own path, and some newcomers might stumble down some of those, but most won’t. Most will wind up following the Suitcoiners or the Degens.
In that political reality, I will stand with the Degens.
Everything they engage in is inane, moronic, pointless imaginary nonsense, but they at least appreciate and understand censorship resistance and the decentralization that creates it. They appreciate the value of self custody and tools that allow them to do what they want with their own money without needing to seek permission from someone else.
The Suitcoiners understand none of these things. They don’t care about self custody. They think that decentralization is just a magic buzzword, or some characteristic set in granite rather than a dynamic property that can ebb and flow. They don’t care about the value a censorship resistant unstoppable monetary network can bring to society. They just care about making dollars in the safe walled garden of the legacy system.
Bitcoin begins to lose all of the properties that give it a chance at resetting the world, of creating a level and neutral playing field for everyone, if its decentralization is eroded away. Without those things it becomes nothing more than a scarce asset trapped in the legacy walled garden. No permissionless money, no native currency of the internet, just a new stonk people buy like an S&P index fund.
That is the direction the Suitcoiners will take us in if left unchecked or unopposed. So begrudgingly, I have to side with the Degens. I may have nothing in common with them except an actual appreciation and regard for censorship resistance, but that’s what really matters at the end of the day.
This article is a Take. Opinions expressed are entirely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.