A Brief Look at Bitcoin Maximalism

An insightful discussion about the origins and evolutions of Bitcoin maximalism.

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ABOUT

On this episode of Speaking of Bitcoin, join hosts Adam B. Levine, Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy and Jonathan Mohan for a discussion about the origins and evolution of Bitcoin maximalism.

This episode is sponsored by Nexo.io.

Bitcoin maximalists – the self-described pro-Bitcoin, anti-altcoin faithful – have been around for longer than most modern crypto projects. The term was coined by Vitalik Buterin prior to Ethereum's release. Buterin intended the term to be a direct criticism of individuals with an unwavering view that Bitcoin was the only true option for cryptographic token use-cases.

In this episode as we explore the phenomenon's motivation and roots, we also draw from Speaking of Bitcoin's extensive library. It features the very first recorded explanation of why there should only be one cryptocurrency and why should be bitcoin as explained by Hashcash inventor and bitcoin developer Adam Back . That clip is excerpted from episode 77 (December 2013) before Adam became personally involved. It's a fascinating journey and one you won't want to miss.

Credits

Today’s show featured Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Jonathan Mohan, Stephanie Murphy and Adam B. Levine, with editing by Jonas and Adam B. Levine. Music for this episode was provided by Jared Rubens and Gurtybeats.com. Our episode art was created by Adam B. Levine/pixelmind.ai

Any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show

HOST

Adam B. Levine

Adam B. Levine joined CoinDesk in 2019 as the editor of its new audio and podcasts division. Previously, Adam founded the long-running Let's Talk Bitcoin! talk show with co-hosts Stephanie Murphy and Andreas M. Antonopoulos.

Finding early success with the show, Adam transformed the podcast's homepage into a full newsdesk and publishing platform, founding the LTB Network in January of 2014 to help broaden the conversation with new and different perspectives. In the Spring of that year, he would go on to launch the first and largest tokenized rewards program for creators and their audience. In what many have called an early influential version of "Steemit"; LTBCOIN, which was awarded to both content creators and members of the audience for participation was distributed until the LTBN was acquired by BTC, Inc. in January of 2017.

With the network launched and growing, in late 2014 Adam turned his attention to the practical challenges of administering the tokenized program and founded Tokenly, Inc. There, he led the development of early tokenized vending machines with Swapbot, tokenized identity solution Tokenpass, e-commerce with TokenMarkets.com and media with Token.fm. Adam owns some BTC, ETH and small positions in a number of other tokens.

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