The Chopping Block: Wizards vs. Laser Eyes for the Future of Bitcoin

Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Robert Leshner, chop it up about the latest news. In this episode, Taproot Wizards instigator Eric Wall joins the show to discuss the rise of Ordinals and what it means for the future of Bitcoin. Will inscriptions and BRC-20 tokens bring a slew of Ethereum-style problems to the original blockchain?

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show highlights:

• how Eric has set up a “war” between the “laser-eye tribe” and the “magicians”
• how the Bitcoin maxi community is different from the normal Bitcoin user base
• whether Ordinals fixes the lack of demand for Bitcoin block space
• what Taproot is and what it enabled on the Bitcoin network
• the MEV problem that could arise in Bitcoin now that demand for block space is going up
• whether Bitcoin’s values resemble a religion
• whether the increased demand for Bitcoin block space is good for the network, even if it’s fueled by JPEGs and “shitcoins”
• why so many people got worried about Ledger Recover
• why Robert thinks that Ledger’s new service is “terrifying” and why Haseeb is not so concerned
• whether Bitcoin is becoming a unit of account once again

Hosts

• Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly
• Robert Leshner, founder of Compound
• Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly

Guest

Previous appearances on Unchained:

• Eric Wall and Udi Wertheimer on Why Bitcoin Maximalism Is ‘Like a Shitcoin Community’
• Is Bitcoin Doomed to Fail? Eric Wall and Justin Bons Face Off
• Why Terra Collapsed and Whether an Algo Stablecoin Can Ever Succeed

Disclosures

Links

• CoinDesk:
  • Ledger Bats Back Criticism of New Wallet Recovery Service
  • The Blocksize Wars Revisited: How Bitcoin’s Civil War Still Resonates Today
• Nic Carter: There’s No Such Thing as High Fees on Bitcoin
• Unchained:
  • ‘Backdoor’ for Seed Phrases? Ledger’s New Recovery Feature Spooks Users
  • ​​‘Technically’ Possible to Extract User Keys? Ledger Addresses Deleted Tweet
• Haseeb Qureshi’s thread on Ledger Recover

Previous coverage of Unchained on Ordinals and BRC-20s:

• Bitcoin’s BRC-20 Mania: Is It Sustainable?
• Bitcoin Ordinal NFTs Are Hot and Getting Hotter. What’s the Hype About?