TD₿: Bitcoin is Worse is Better by Gwern
TL;DR Bitcoin was designed with one purpose in mind, to be the native currency of the internet.
Hey Bitcoiners,
Bitcoin at first glance may seem like a highly inefficient protocol given its design choices.
Satoshi and the early Cypherpunks purposely designed Bitcoin to prioritize security and decentralization over efficiency and functionality.
They knew that security and decentralization were the most important traits to ensure in the initial prototype. From there, they figured Bitcoin could be improved upon over time.
One of the best write-ups on this topic was by Gwern in this classic post, Bitcoin is Worse is Better (05/27/2011).
We’re now seeing this thesis play out today with Layer 2 solutions like the Lightning Network being built on top of Bitcoin.
Satoshi’s design choices were right.
Tick tock next block,
Cory Klippsten
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Quote of the Day
“The nature of Bitcoin is such that once version 0.1 was released, the core design was set in stone for the rest of its lifetime.” - Satoshi Nakamoto, Inventor of Bitcoin
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