When will it stop? Bitcoin and Ethereum should coexist peacefully in the digital currency field

With inflation levels in Venezuela reaching new heights, European countries adopting negative interest rates, financial technology breaking through a critical point in China, and blockchain technology estimated to break through a critical point in the next five years or so, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other public blockchains face many opportunities and threats.

Currently, the two communities of Bitcoin and Ethereum, but mainly Bitcoin, are deeply divided and are caught in a debate that will not end in at least 10 years if it continues, because the views of the debaters are fundamentally different and no settlement can be reached.

After more than a year of debate that has descended into acrimony and toxicity on both sides, it’s time to recognize that many Bitcoiners have different views and must separate on their own terms.

A tale of two realms

History will eventually show which path is correct. For now, no one can absolutely prove which view is the best. In the absence of such conclusive evidence, it is natural for different people to weigh Bitcoin differently.

As Gregory Maxwell expressed early in the debate, we need to realize that there are tradeoffs. I would add that we need to realize that both communities are formed by people who passionately and genuinely hold different views, and that these views come from differences in the emphasis on those tradeoffs.

Satoshi had a vision: on-chain scaling to Visa-level nodes run by servers around the world and jurisdictions. The first reaction to this vision was to look for an alternative; creating layers on top of Bitcoin. This has expanded to include sidechains, creating competing chains, but the difference is that they all revolve around Bitcoin as a currency. There is something to be said for these visions, as they have been said for over a year now, but because no one is right or wrong, no more words can convince them.

The fact that this debate has lasted so long clearly shows that these beliefs are strong and passionately held on both sides. Therefore, in my view, there is nothing to be gained from continuing the hostility - except wasting time and resources. Therefore, we should declare peaceful coexistence.

Cooperation is better than endless quarrels

Humans have evolved to cooperate for a reason. While we may have different opinions, fundamentally, whether it’s Bitcoin Core, Bitcoin Classic, Bitcoin Unlimited, Ethereum, or ETC, we all have a common interest in this new invention and its advancement to improve the world.

Our own attacks do no good to the attackers, but are a loss to the entire field, because we show the world that we are abnormal and irrational, wasting time endlessly arguing instead of focusing our energy on creating something useful. This constant vitriol has taken its toll on the entire field, as there has not been a single interesting Bitcoin app in nearly a year and a half. It has emotionally drained many people, as everyone is under constant attack. It has led to a Bitcoin ecosystem that is currently paralyzed, with the same old topics being hammered out over and over again, with no gains for everyone.

Look around you. What I see is a metaphorical battlefield.

This kind of destruction is harmful to both parties and the entire field, because outsiders will see it as a cult, religion, sect, insult and disgust. No one benefits from this field, so both parties should end the quarrel and declare peace.

I wrote an editorial in March calling for a truce in Bitcoin land. During that time, there was peace and calm, but passions quickly ignited again and it seems to me that there is a significant number of Bitcoiners who, in a grassroots way, simply cannot stand Bitcoin’s current path. While many have quit or left, the grassroots are not paying attention. Despite numerous calls for calm, the anger seems too great.

Lessons from Ethereum

The split in the Ethereum community is of a different nature and in many ways more fundamental. The vast majority, now determined by price, currently 90% depending on the ETC+ETH price, believe that The DAO attackers committed theft, while ETC supporters, who make up 10% of the Ethereum community based on current prices, believe that theft was not committed.

This split transcends any Bitcoin Core or Bitcoin Classic split. I don’t know who in Core supports ETH, but I know that many people in Classic who are vocal about supporting larger blocks actively support ETC.

The Ethereum community is trying to move forward quickly and leave the judgment to the market. This is possible because, in many ways, it can be said that the two are not in direct competition, so both have their own niches, and some people believe that Ethereum can solve mainstream businesses, while ETC can satisfy illegal applications. The Ethereum community should make everyone realize that they are able to govern themselves, so there is no need for external intervention to save them at the moment, and there is no need to take some drastic measures against Bitcoin, such as classifying it as a commodity for tax purposes, which leads to double taxation, bitlicense obstacles, and recently the Bitcoin user database that the EU wants to implement.

Free market rules

I’m sure many Ethereum developers could have proposed a way to make ETC technically impossible, but doing so would have left many people who passionately held certain beliefs feeling threatened, leading to sustained outrage like we’ve seen on r/bitcoin, which in turn garners sympathy from many people because the individual or user is considered a long-time member of the community and therefore their opinion does not count.

Throughout this incident, the price of Ethereum has been very stable, and many people believe that Ethereum holders are actually richer, even after Poloniex listed ETC as a combined market cap is higher. However, the replay attack has caused some problems to arise, which are easy to solve without a time limit before the fork.

The benefits of the end result, in my opinion, far outweigh any short-term issues. Both communities can now go their own way without any reason to continue arguing, leaving the ecosystem free to move forward and create new things, leaving the judgment of whether it is right or wrong to history and the free market.

Bitcoin Options

In my opinion, Bitcoiners who object to Bitcoin Core's views should move to ETH, ETC or the forks Bitcoin Classic or Bitcoin Unlimited. Any of them, in my opinion, are far better than wasting time, energy and resources that we have been watching for over a year now with no signs of ending. For example, Gregory Maxwell spends so much time arguing on Reddit when he could do something for not only Bitcoin, but the entire space. Furthermore, developers like Andreessen and Garzik don't even contribute to the space anymore, at a time when the space is lacking in skills at their level. It's a waste of resources for no real reason and a loss for the entire ecosystem.

Let freedom reign, let peace rule. Let the market compete. Let history decide who is right and who is wrong.

The only way for both parties to reconcile at this point is through cooperation, while developing their own creativity. As far as all participants in the market are concerned, their money is valid in any branch, but combined, it may be more valuable, and when the brutal war ends and a peace based on the free market reigns again, there will be nothing to lose and much to gain.

So there won't be one person ruling all, and there won't be one chain enslaving all the others. If we have peace in this space, then the two communities, Bitcoin and Ethereum, have to go their separate ways.

Netizens' comments were quite intense:

Great article, loved it.

The only thing I disagree with is that the spinoff to ETC was a wise choice. Some pro-Bitcoin Core people who used to dislike Ethereum now like ETC because of 'immutability'. It is worth noting that the immutability of ETC is no different from ETH because they use the same code base. Forking is a community consensus issue, not a code issue.

Anyway, I am glad that the Ethereum hard fork happened and ETC can be traded on exchanges. This way, both sides can discuss it in their own way and realize their own views. The market will select the most valuable currency.

But on the other hand, they are all pro-government and anti-Bitcoin payment capabilities. They accuse us of being surrounded by pro-government and anti-Bitcoin technology!

Excellent! I agree that the main challenge for Bitcoin and Ethereum right now is the unproductive fighting within their respective communities. Spending time on /r/Bitcoin/, /r/btc/ or BitcoinTalk, it’s easy to forget how coordinated and productive these forums once were (Proof of Stake was invented on Bitcoin Talk), and all the sarcasm towards opponents, exaggerations and digressions, fundamentalist fervor, etc., is driving away many of the elite developers, not to mention the general public.

Bitcoin will never reach Visa scale through the block size debate. Roger Ver and his crew started this debate. It's a lie. Scaling to support transaction capacity was never really on the table. Satoshi never said 'scaling' was his opinion, just that it could be done this way.