Bitcoin Vs Altcoins 2 with Alex Gladstein & Erik Voorhees - WBD425

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.