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IF Saylor is actively discouraging development, my theory on that is that he probably fears the "bitcoin as currency" narrative so much because that invites a shitstorm from US govt. and he probably thinks it will set back "bitcoin is an asset" narrative in some way that meaningfully hurts his investment.

Stopping development might be beneficial to him as it halts any potentially regulatory challenging developments. To him, bitcoin is good as it is and it doesn't need any new development. He's probably thinking "leave it the f alone!".

Just a theory, hinging on a big IF. I don't know what the reality is.

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Discussion

Lucid 1y ago

Totally.

Leo Wandersleb 1y ago

But there is tons of development that is not Bitcoin protocol development. Make better, more secure wallets for example.

HoloKat 1y ago

I agree, but he probably doesn't want to think about which development he'd be funding.

Leo Wandersleb 1y ago

The claims are they stopped others from funding, too.

HoloKat 1y ago

Sus. Both ways. I'm curious to learn more, but don't see any details.

negr0 1y ago

Coincido, el ahora se siente poderoso y que tiene el control y no quiere que todo se le vaya de control. No quiere competencia tampoco

Seth 1y ago

I would speculate that he is trying to leverage his position to have a greater moat around the development through regulatory capture. A theory, and this is what the titans of the past have done, but the past doesn’t predict the future.

Azz 1y ago

It will be interesting. Big holders are incentivise to stop development and force transactions into traditional banking, which they can profit from holding on behalf of others. Also the harder to move on-chain, the less likely bank runs are.

Miners on the other hand are incentivised to prefer scaling and increase the number of on chain transactions.

Users are also incentivised to control their own keys to prevent fractionally reserved lending which debases the value of their coins.

Fortunately Bitcoin is proof of work, not proof of stake, so it doesn't really matter how much Michael Saylor or Coinbase hold.

Jordan Eskovitz 1y ago

We don't know his heart of hearts of motivations on the matter but I've suspected something similar.

*Bitcoin as ONLY an asset* vs. Bitcoin as [also a] currency seems to be one the more important narrative battles for the fotseeable future.

I have no reaaon to at the moment to think Saylor is a bad actor when he pushes the asset-only view. Fink, on the other hand...

Dr. Fernando Morales 1y ago

I believe in the narrative that bitcoin doesn't care what we do. If Saylor is actively threatening companies and individuals, then that's clearly a violation of the non aggression principal and he should be shamed/punished for that. However, I think it's best to wait for proof before condemning him to hell haha.

On a side note, I honestly don't see how all this peer pressure is going to help bitcoin at all. Looks like a bunch of socialists telling the rich how to best spend money, simply because it's the "right" thing to do. Again, bitcoin doesn't care if Saylor puts in a billion into FOSS or not.

HoloKat 1y ago

We don't care if he doesn't fund development, but if he is actually trying to stop others from doing so, I do care.

Dr. Fernando Morales 1y ago

I agree with that.

Chad Lupkes 1y ago

I don't care what HE spends money on. I care that he is influencing others on how they spend money.

Dr. Fernando Morales 1y ago

If by influencing you mean using violence or the threat of it, then yeah, totally agree and he should face the consequences. As far as I know, it hasn't been proven yet that he's done what he's being accused of. But In the grand scheme of things, I don't see the "influence" of particular individuals or companies being of much importance to bitcoin in the long run, just look at the block size wars.

My response was also mainly directed at those who have been beating the socialist drums of Saylor having to donate to bitcoin open source projects because of reasons and "it good", this was happening well before this current rumor/event. To them I'd say mind your own business.

calvadev⚡️ 1y ago

Agreed; Bitcoin seems to serve his use-case of being digital gold, and he doesn’t want anything to fuck with that.

bootlace 1y ago

Not sure, but I think I'd rather the billionaires funded 1000s of nodes.

ede3d957... 1y ago

He's correct though. Bitcoin is a great asset. But it will never be everyday currency. And it doesn't need to be.

Also Saylor: "Maybe you need a Monero", if you want a currency that is not USD.

HoloKat 1y ago

Ah yes I wish I had this certainty. NEVER!! What else can you tell us?

ede3d957... 1y ago

It's lack of fungibility.

ede3d957... 1y ago

It's funny that some of us Bitcoin OGs are even in the weird position of explaining to Bitcoin newcomers (in my definition all those who were on boarded in the KYC era from 2012-2024) what makes money actual money. And why Bitcoin in its current form is great, but not money.

You simply can not leave out one essential function of money like fungibility and claim to solve the problem on an abstracted layer as a derivative with different tradeoffs.

Bitcoin is an asset. A commodity. Might even become the reserve asset.

P.S. Those conversations with Bitcoiners make me almost feel the same as explaining to Normie's, why credit (all fiat except cash) is not money.

TheGrinder 1y ago

Saylor can think whatever he wants. "peer-to-peer electronic cash system". We're not changing the asset class for institutions.

HoloKat 1y ago

Plebs United!

TheGrinder 1y ago

What's next? Shitcoinery is ok for as long as it's done on the Bitcoin chain? Oh, wait...

ralphstriewski 1y ago

Think about it!

Why does Saylor insist in the COMMODITY narrative. He wants to avoid problems with the Fed and the FIAT gvnmts.

#bitcoin is a PEER TO PEER ELECTRONIC PAYMENT SYSTEM - MONEY

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wertyyryyr 1y ago

Just another "hero" like Musk