Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway discuss strange patterns, complex problems, and the latest market trends. On this occasion, they debated in a podcast about the rise of the so-called DeFi (decentralized finance) that exists these days. And, much of it is based on enthusiasm for what can be built on Ethereum
Ethereum is considered easier to build for multiple reasons. But the world of Bitcoin is increasingly interested in some of the same mechanics and types of similar projects. In this podscats , they spoke with Alyse Killeen, the founding partner of StillMark, a Bitcoin-focused venture capital fund, about what is being built there and how her vision of DeFi is similar and different to what is being built on Ethereum.
Now Joe Weisenthal thinks it has obviously been an amazing year for crypto in general for Bitcoin, for a lot of things going on Ethereum, DeFi, etc. But he feels, that in a sense, some of the narrative excitement has drifted away from Bitcoin in recent months.
New technology behind Bitcoin
During the program, they talked about the development of Bitcoin and the quite substantial update that the network technology has had. Something called Taproot. In this context, Alyse Killeen was asked if she could describe what this new technology is and what is it going to allow us to do with a Bitcoin?
Alyse explained that Taproot does quite a bit, and that it will go live in November and it will not only have an impact on privacy, the scalability of the core protocol, but it will also have an impact on smart hiring opportunities and will allow us, in a way, to sit the foundation for future updates, which has relevance to other types of increased functionality at the lightning network level.
And that is very important because when we are thinking about DeFi in the Bitcoin space, we are thinking not only about how it is relevant to merchants, but also how it is relevant very broadly to billions of people, not hundreds of thousands of people. .
She said:
“So what we see happening in the Ethereum or Bitcoin space - what is now called DeFi - there are about a hundred thousand participants in this space and they are very committed participants. Sure, but it's pretty small. And in terms of cultural relevance or impact it will be very limited. What has been frustrating I think for people who operate in the Bitcoin space is that I guess it feels like I'm on the bottom. "
" I don't feel like a Bitcoin maximalist "
On the other hand, Alyse highlighted that she does not feel like a Bitcoin maximalist, as she considers herself more of a sound technology maximalist. Which means you are looking at a protocol level in the relevant infrastructure and what that means.
During the interview, they asked him what is the technological difference between Bitcoin and everything else. And what, in your opinion, makes Bitcoin suitable for doing new things?
Alyse replied:
So the first thing to keep in mind is that Bitcoin is really a tech game in the first place. Whereas Ethereum and other altcoins seem like a marketing game to me. So Bitcoin is a game of technology, Bitcoin starts with the assumption that the security and stability of the network are the most important. And the history of Bitcoin is to prioritize that.
And what that means is that the bottom line of that is that Bitcoin the cryptocurrency can be a store of value. It is the first scarce digital resource to which we have sovereign access. And Bitcoin, the protocol, of course, a kind of permissionless, public registry system that operates in a decentralized manner, he said.
And all of these things are necessary to establish Bitcoin as a store of value. So one of our big assumptions is that that is, what it is, the most important thing. And after you've established that and have a history of, that that's true, then you can go and add functionality at the core protocol level and in the layers built on top of the core protocol.
And what about Ethereum and altcoins?
For its part, consider that, Ethereum and altcoins. Other altcoins were actually introduced to propose that the new functionality could be, it could attract a new audience. And so they start with the functionality and the idea was that then they would migrate to a kind of secure networks maybe more decentralized. And we see this with Ethereum.
Ethereum has been for quite some time, planning a state of Ethereum, 2.0 where the network is secured, not by proof of work, but by proof of stake.
And, you know, I propose that this is an almost wild thing to do when the network has billions of dollars of value in it to think about changing what ensures that the network and value, you know, to me feels a bit risky. He said.
He expressed that one of the reasons he's in the Bitcoin space is because we Bitcoiners, or at least the folks who develop at the core protocol level, respect that there are billions of dollars of people's net worth. which is secured by this protocol. And that's the first thing, the functionality.
Alyse Killeen
Alyse Killeen. She is the founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm Stillmark, which is the only venture capital fund focused on Bitcoin. They take stakes in Bitcoin-related companies. He is on the board of Blockstream, which is one of the largest Bitcoin app builders, many of their employees contribute substantially to the Bitcoin code.