{"id":4485,"date":"2025-08-06T00:18:59","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T00:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/06\/which-way-bitcoiner-on-purism-vs-impact-and-size-vs-irrelevance\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T00:18:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T00:18:59","slug":"which-way-bitcoiner-on-purism-vs-impact-and-size-vs-irrelevance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/06\/which-way-bitcoiner-on-purism-vs-impact-and-size-vs-irrelevance\/","title":{"rendered":"Which Way, Bitcoiner? On Purism vs Impact and Size vs Irrelevance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

Which Way, Bitcoiner? On Purism vs Impact and Size vs Irrelevance<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

When you\u2019re at the top, the haters proliferate: Tayl<\/a>o<\/a>r<\/a> knows it, Brady knows it, Rogan knows it, Tarantino knows it.<\/p>\n

Basking in the orange fame, Bitcoiners are coming to know it too. This is what winning looks like<\/em>\u2026 which is why so many people are out to get us. <\/p>\n

I received a decent amount of pushback for my Vegas \u201capologist\u201d Take<\/a> in early June (\u201cVegas Comedown, or Was Bitcoin 2025 Too Noisy?<\/a>\u201d). It\u2019s trendy among \u201chardcore\u201d Bitcoiners and true, in-the-weeds Cypherpunk types to sling dirt on Bitcoin Magazine and major Bitcoin events.<\/p>\n

The main objection is always different flavors of the same thing: It\u2019s too base, it\u2019s too corporate, it\u2019s catering to normies, there are too many parasites.<\/em> Basically, it\u2019s too big<\/strong> and too successful<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\n

Imagine a startup saying \u201cman, I wish we stayed small and generated very little revenue with barely any users and faded into obscurity.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how some bitconers posture about bitcoin. Bitcoin is the greatest digitally scarce asset and money\u2026the world wants it. That\u2019s GREAT!<\/p>\n

\u2014 Trey Walsh (@ktreywalsh) July 30, 2025<\/a>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

We (BTC Inc \u2014 the parent company of Bitcoin Magazine and the organizer of the largest Bitcoin conference(s)<\/a> in the world) \u2014 had brought everyone who is anyone to Vegas, plus<\/em> a bunch of politicians and company execs and establishment elites. (In short, we turned Sin City into Simp City<\/a>.) Not everyone was happy about that \u2014 not even within our own ranks<\/em>, demonstrably so by Shinobi<\/a> refusing to attend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Like I pointed out in the comedown piece<\/a>, that kind of size and mainstreaming attracts a lot<\/em> of parasites.<\/p>\n

Have Bitcoiners Lost Their Way?<\/h2>\n

Right after Vegas, I attended a much less ostentatious affair, hidden away in the back alleys of Barcelona during peak tourist season. The BCC8333, Barcelona Cyphers Conference<\/a>, saw a hundred or so Bitcoiners congregate and listen to pretty in-depth talks and demo sessions. The arguments were not<\/em> over Steak N Shake<\/a> or political shill fests, but Lightning liquidity and protocol changes.<\/p>\n

The vibes couldn\u2019t have been any more different. Max Hillebrand<\/a>, a Cypherpunky-type most known for his work with Wasabi Wallet, on stage in Barcelona said something snarky about the Vegas conference (I\u2019m paraphrasing from memory): \u201cI don\u2019t think even 1% of the attendees there understand Bitcoin.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

To the extent anybody <\/em>understands bitcoin<\/a>, yes, that\u2019s a roughly correct number. But 1% of 35,000 Vegas attendees is still multiples of the audience in the dimly lit Barcelona flamenco venue where Hillebrand spoke.<\/em><\/p>\n

What I\u2019ve never understood is why there has to be such animosity between the two. Anyone can attend both (or either) of these sorts of events<\/a>, and see and feel the difference for themselves. And if some people don\u2019t want to attend the large-scale events but get most of the benefits from them taking place, you can just go to the city \u2014 ticketless \u2014 and hang out.<\/a><\/em> That way, you have a chance to meet all the Bitcoiner people worth meeting and attend all the juicy side events.<\/p>\n

The Uber driver in Vegas taking me to one such side event inquisitively asked questions and was astonished that Vice President<\/em> Vance was there. Now he\u2019s gradually learning more, stacking reward-sats with Fold<\/a> and DCAing at River.<\/p>\n

Safe to say that<\/em> didn\u2019t happen in Barcelona, where not even the tourists on the crowded street right outside or the flamenco dancers, eager to get their venue back, could tell what was up.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin is a funnel, a gradual journey, a step-by-step learning process that everybody who has gone through can testify to. That means we need events and educational material, people and ideas, that cater to every<\/em> level \u2014 newbies and pros alike. <\/p>\n

Do I love the political shill fest that our Vegas event turned into? No.
Am I happy about the shitcoinery and parasititic ventures that massive, successful Bitcoin events attract? No.
Am I happy about bitcoin treasury companies financializing<\/a> the shit out of bitcoin, and, in time, quite likely blowing up<\/a>? Hell no<\/em> \u2014 read our next Bitcoin Magazine Print issue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s what Bitcoiner success looks<\/em> like. <\/p>\n

Too Much Fuzzing, Not Enough FOSSing<\/h2>\n

\u201cWhat is all this SPAC shit going on?,\u201d Car Gonz\u00e1lez asked on Stacker News Live<\/a> while roasting (\u201cslaying?<\/a>\u201d) David Bailey (co-owner of BTC Inc, and founder of Nakamoto Holdings, affiliated with Bitcoin Magazine and for which Bitcoin Magazine provides certain marketing services) on air. \u201cWhy are there people at the top of this thing just putting a spigot here and siphoning off it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s own business, PlebLab, out of Austin, Texas, is something between a coworking space and a \u201ccommunity accelerator for the Bitcoin era<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show that Bailey joined to talk about Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019 accusations gets \u2014 conservatively estimated, seven-and-a-half views \u2014 speaking loudly and forcefully into the headphones of a core, committed group of Bitcoiners. I\u2019m all for it; at times, even enjoying it\u2026 but you\u2019re not changing the world with that<\/em> (or even your neighborhood in Austin).<\/p>\n

Hack, FOSS, build, and cypherpunk your way into a beautiful cypherpunk world. We need that. But PlebLab<\/a>, as awesome a local Austin institution as it looks like from afar, is microscopic, the reach it has immaterial and meagre.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying selling out for size, or always be compromising ideals for reach\u2026 but at some level, that\u2019s a necessary implication if you want to make change in the world. There\u2019s a reason David Bailey is on CBS Sunday<\/a>, and he<\/a> or Jack Mallers<\/a> get on Bloomberg, or Saylor on CNBC<\/a> \u2014 in front of hundreds of thousand<\/em>s (or millions) of people \u2014 raising millions to acquire bitcoin, while Gonz\u00e1lez codes and builds an incumbator-type center for hundreds<\/em> of people. Cool, great, Bitcoin and Bitcoiners need people like that.<\/p>\n

How About We Keep Bitcoin Tiny, Obscure, and Irrelevant?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

People who don\u2019t like the mainstreaming of bitcoin seem to be saying, \u201cNah<\/em>, man; I liked my favorite garage band when it was small and irrelevant.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like they\u2019re praying, not for success but for failure simply because they<\/em> were lucky enough to have restricted access. Please, fate, don\u2019t let them be successful.<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a ridiculous idea.<\/p>\n

This post Which Way, Bitcoiner? On Purism vs Impact and Size vs Irrelevance<\/a> first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine<\/a> and is written by Joakim Book<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine Which Way, Bitcoiner? On Purism vs Impact and Size vs Irrelevance When you\u2019re at the top, the haters proliferate: Taylor knows it, Brady knows it, Rogan knows it, Tarantino knows it. Basking in the orange fame, Bitcoiners are coming to know it too. This is what winning looks like\u2026 which is why so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bitcoin"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}