Issue #837: Thread on different scaling tradeoffs

For any of you freaks who are interested in the technical aspects of Bitcoin, particularly around the subject of Bitcoin's scalability, I highly recommend you take some time to read through this thread by Ryan Gentry. In it, Ryan takes a deep dive into the different tradeoffs Bitcoin and Ethereum have made as they attempt to scale and explains why Bitcoin's tradeoff decisions enable it to remain more trustless for individual users while Ethereum's tradeoff decisions increase the amount of trust that is needed to be put in single points of failure.

It's funny to observe how starkly different the two projects are at this point in time and how often Ethereum's narrative has changed over time, particularly around scaling. Many warned that attempting to do everything on-chain, as Ethereum set out to do when it first launched, was a bad idea. It seems that the people building out that network are beginning to realize this and are pivoting accordingly. Unfortunately for them, it seems that their pivots are leading to other forms of centralization. Particularly in the form of trusted second layer validators.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin's scaling journey has remained relatively straightforward and steadfast; a slow and methodical build out of technology that enables bitcoiners to leverage their UTXOs in a trustless manner while making sure the chain doesn't become too bloated with data.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Your Uncle Marty has never been more confident in the tradeoff decisions that have been made in regards to Bitcoin's buildout.

If you're interested in learning more about the Lightning Network and the hurdles it faces as the buildout continues, I highly recommend you peep the podcast I dropped this morning with Joost Jager.

Final thought...

The weather has certainly turned a corner here this week. Hoodie season is upon us.

Enjoy your weekend, freaks.