Oddbean

What would the impact be if the most recognized names in bitcoin boycotted David Bailey’s next Bitcoin Conference in protest of his and Bitcoin Magazine’s ongoing support of the ordinal NFT shit?

Bitcoin has acquired enough clout in fiat money world to ding these cunts a bit. The ongoing trend towards rising valuation doesn't look set to stop either, this new accounting rule will increase business use of it. I personally don't go in for that fiat shit. Not paying any income tax, gfy audit me. I'm more evasive than a cockroach. Most humans are cowards. Fuck them.

I think ordinals are retarded, but not convinced they're a scam. People will get rekt. That's their own stupid decision. "Wake the fuck up man" is one of the dumbest fucking things you can say to me btw. I've had my eyes open to bullshit for a very long time.

The pissing match mentality is unneeded here. Please stop. You don’t seem to have your eyes open to Bailey’s bullshit, or maybe you simply don’t care. Either way that’s unfortunate for someone who’s been around and as well known in bitcoin circles as you. Disappointing.

Ordinals are fucking stupid but they're valid Bitcoin transactions. David's saying shit I disagree with, and I reserve the right to change my opinion, but for now I really don't care that much. I've met the guy numerous times over the years and form my own opinions based on that.

Ordinals are an arbitrary ownership scheme with little to do with Bitcoin, you're referring to inscriptions here which can be defined as transactions which escapes arbitrary data into the witness portion of a transaction What do you mean by valid? Inscriptions are Bitcoin transactions that circumvent Bitcoin "spam" filters which are put into place to encourage users to make transactions in ways to not bloat the UTXO set. It takes a mechanism (witness discount) meant to encourage users to utilize multiple utxos more efficiently into a mechanism where it generates unprunable dust outputs. Arbitrary data on Bitcoin is valid (hence OP_Return is offered), but having it unprunable and not paid-for-in-full is a harm on the network because it puts a cost on node operators and outbids for non-arbitrary data storage-use for blockspace. As an attack it's actually pretty smart (not stupid) to hide behind people like Mr bailey and the silly dancing wizards 🤔 But whose to say what is spam as long as someone's having fun? People are free to create whatever transactions they want, and the mechanism of used in inscriptions is just one method -- there likely will be more methods in the future. Oh heavens, a never ending cat and mouse game, the horror🤦 Is it already time to do nothing? Every class of Bitcoiner gets to ask the question: "should users be encouraged to spam/scam the network?" then do something about it (even nothing!)

I’m asking an honest question because I don’t know the answer… Are ordinals a bigger threat to bitcoin than the governments? If not, can everyone put the disagreements aside and choose to stand against the greatest threat?

Governments are not Bitcoin’s greatest threat. Anything that encourages centralization is, which governments can certainly play a part in. Spamming the blockchain with ordinals could have secondary effects that hurt decentralization.

People have always chosen what’s allowed on the blockchain. Bitcoin is simply a network of censorship by consensus, and within the confines of that consensus anything that is possible is “allowed.” But forces and activities that create centralizing forces on the network are potential threats and should be considered carefully and perhaps even opposed. Decentralization is everything, or bitcoin is lost.

So you folks don’t want others to post artwork because you believe that it stifles decentralization? So you are pro censorship by consensus. Good to know. Please correct me if I have any of that wrong. Where could I hear an honest argument in support of ordinals? Bitcoin magazine?

That’s fair, and wise, and anyone should do the same. Honestly I wasn’t sure if you were just trying to ruffle my feathers by jumping to such hard fast m conclusions on what I’m saying 😂 Anyway, “you folks” is a hard thing to define. I am simply one user on a decentralized monetary network that operates on the basis of adherence to the shared rules of consensus define by the network’s protocol. Proof of work miners build on the chain following those rules, and my node accepts the longest chain that follows the rules, excluding/censoring many things in the process, such as blocks that are too big or transactions with invalid parameters, etc. If you run a bitcoin node, yours does too. The argument is not related to artwork specifically, but to maintaining and even increasing decentralization because otherwise bitcoin is captured. Bitcoin is not a file storage system. Bitcoin is money, and as money that exists outside the control of central authorities it is far too important to support anything that leads to it centralizing. As for an honest argument in support of ordinals, I don’t know where exactly to point you. The debates have been ongoing for several months. There are many articles and podcasts on it. Bitcoin Magazine is clearly in favor, so you will probably find plenty of material from them swayed that way. It would perhaps help to have a solid understanding of what ordinals even are in the first place. Honestly, that’s where I would suggest you begin.

Lol 😂 At the end of the day bitcoiners are all (mostly) just average everyday people who come from all walks of life, and happen to share an appreciation of, and recognize a need for, money that isn’t controlled by any central authority.