Is the tragedy of Bitcoin just hype or is it real?

There has been a lot of talk lately about the death of Bitcoin.

Media outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post have declared that Bitcoin is either obsolete or on the verge of collapse. All of this speculation comes from the fact that an influential developer in the Bitcoin community, Mike Hearn, announced on his blog that he was officially retiring.

Despite the various technical claims, former Google engineer Mike Hearn believes that the reasons for Bitcoin's failure are complex, with competing business interests and some philosophical considerations that are considered hype.

Barry Silbert, CEO of Digital Currency Group, said he is not worried about the failure of Bitcoin. In the short history of Bitcoin, there have been countless similar remarks. Every week there are new news that always want people to believe that Bitcoin is about to fail, but in his opinion, as long as Bitcoin does not fall, it will become stronger.

In a paper titled “Bitcoin’s Settlement Experiment Report,” Hearn said he was concerned about the process of resolving bitcoin’s so-called block size debate, which refers to a disagreement within the bitcoin community over how to store transaction data.

The question is how to design Bitcoin's underlying blockchain to be optimal. The current maximum size is only 1 byte per block, which only allows 7 seconds per transaction. Some people in the community say that too slow a speed will limit Bitcoin's continued growth.

Discussions about Bitcoin are as philosophical as they are technical. Some believe Bitcoin is good enough as a commodity currency for investment, without the need for fast transactions; others want it to be used as an international transaction network like Visa. But no matter where the debate ends, most members of the Bitcoin community say their differences are overstated by the media.

Silbert said that the disagreement over Bitcoin will not be a permanent stalemate, and Bitcoin will always exist even if the argument continues.

Experts say that without a solution to Bitcoin's growth limit, transaction fees will increase with more and more unpredictable payment settlements. Pete Rizzo, an editor who focuses on digital currencies, said that Bitcoin's limit will not be a permanent problem, and community members generally agree that the network space needs to be expanded.

But there are still differences on the specific implementation level. Some people propose to solve the block size problem by simply increasing transaction capacity, while others seek to promote a new version of Bitcoin, but this proposal has not been accepted by the long-term core developers of the open source protocol.

But Hearn’s complaints extend beyond the merits of the proposed process for storing bitcoin’s data. He objects to the core developers’ demand for consensus on every decision, and believes some of them are deliberately obstructing discussion.

As media attention grows, some bitcoin businesses are trying to circumvent bitcoin’s core developers, which in turn could widen divisions in the community and threaten bitcoin’s growth.

Rizzo said that the media's constant propaganda that Bitcoin development is stagnant or failed has brought political pressure to the development of the Bitcoin industry. The current problems are not from technical reasons, but purely political pressure.

Although political factors may anger practitioners in the Bitcoin community, they cannot quickly lead to the failure of the entire industry. In fact, although the price of Bitcoin once fell from $ 430 to $360, it has now rebounded to around $420.

Silbert said that since the block size discussion began, Bitcoin daily transactions, the number of users, commercial acceptance bills and venture capital have reached record highs. Outside investors have begun to ignore the sensational headlines and news such as Bitcoin's collapse, which is a sign of group maturity for Bitcoin's development.

In fact, last August, Hearn said that regardless of the outcome of the block size discussion, the Bitcoin network will continue to function, although its growth rate may stagnate.

Neither the current debate nor Hearn’s exit will spell the end of Bitcoin, but neither does it mean that Bitcoin is destined for long-term success.

Silbert said that from a price perspective, Bitcoin is either worthless or will rise higher. The current discussions and disputes are just a beneficial part of the process.