During a Twitter Space session on July 7, Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum, expressed his appreciation for Bitcoin Ordinals, describing it as a significant comeback of the builder culture within the Bitcoin community. This discussion involved notable individuals such as Bitcoin supporters Eric Wall and Udi Wertheimer, as well as stakeholders from the Taproot Wizards, and focused on the recent developments and impact of Ordinals on the Bitcoin ecosystem.
According to Buterin, Bitcoin Ordinals represent a strong counterforce to what he perceives as “stagnant” politics prevailing in the Bitcoin network, signifying the rise of a proactive and constructive culture. Despite initial disruptions caused by these cultural shifts, Buterin believes they are ultimately indispensable for fostering progress within the Bitcoin community.
In response to Bitcoin’s scalability concerns and difficulties in handling medium-sized payments, Buterin proposed the adoption of various layer-2 solutions as a potential remedy. Specifically, he expressed strong support for rollups, a technology that combines multiple transactions into a single data entry before appending them to the blockchain. Rollups have demonstrated their efficacy on the Ethereum network by improving network efficiency, reducing transaction costs, and accelerating transaction speed. Buterin believes that Bitcoin could reap similar benefits by embracing such innovative solutions.
Buterin also praised the BRC-20 token standard on Bitcoin, drawing a parallel with Ethereum’s ERC-20 tokens. The BRC-20 standard is an experimental token protocol that enables the creation and exchange of fungible tokens using Ordinals.
Buterin suggests that these recent developments might prompt a renewed focus on concrete actions within the Bitcoin network. They have the potential to offset the influence of the “laser-eye movement,” a term used to describe a subset of the Bitcoin community that places exclusive emphasis on Bitcoin, often disregarding other blockchain protocols. This faction tends to view Bitcoin as the sole prominent player in the Web3 space, dismissing other protocols and blockchains, such as NFTs and Ethereum, as inferior.
Buterin’s remarks allude to a promising future in which Bitcoin, equipped with a rejuvenated builder culture and a willingness to adopt new technologies, persists in evolving and adapting within an ever-changing landscape.
