Episode 7 of CryptoSlate’s podcast, Bittalk, discussed the potential risks and benefits of introducing new changes to Bitcoin. The hosts, Akiba from CryptoSlate, James from CryptoSlate’s research team, and Nick from Mercury Wallet, touched on various topics related to Bitcoin’s current state, including developments of Bitcoin infrastructure and the Nostr Improvement Protocols (NIPs) and the Lightning network.
The podcast also covered Ordinals, a database that allows users to write a chunk of data on Bitcoin, and whether Bitcoin could be considered a security in the future. One of the main points made in the discussion was the potential use cases for Nostr, including Zapper, a micro-payment system across Nostr, and others. The Lightning network is also set to benefit from Nostr’s developments, with increasing node numbers and exponential growth in network capacity.
One of the major talking points was the fear of change among Bitcoiners, with some believing that adding things like ordinals could muddy the purest form of a hard money digital asset. Nick noted that the history and complexity of the consensus layer could be a significant factor behind this fear. Bitcoin has had bugs in the past, and changing its protocol could pose risks, just like changing an engine mid-flight on an airplane.
The conversation also touched on the controversy surrounding the need for inflation fees for miners to secure the network. While some experts like Peter Todd have suggested that some sort of inflation fee is necessary, Nick argued that Bitcoin is still in its early stages, and adding inflation now is not a good idea. He added that we could have a layer of lightning channels that could provide enough security to justify enough fees to justify mining.
The hosts also discussed the growing interest in ordinals and NFTs, with some even buying ordinals via lightning. Nick noted that although many of the NFT Ethereum guys were into Bitcoin for NFTs, they would likely stay for lightning.
The BitTalk podcast is now weekly, with Akiba set to join the podcast from Denver for the next episode. Although BTC made a new low on the day the podcast was recorded, the hosts still saw great potential for Bitcoin’s future.
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