Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) Maximalism is a failing strategy that is limiting the growth of the apex coin while boosting Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), said Muneeb Ali, the founder of Stacks (CRYPTO: STX).
What Happened: Ali’s comments on Bitcoin Maximalism came in the form of a Twitter thread on Monday.
Bitcoin maximalism is limiting the growth of Bitcoin.
Retweet for visibility if you agree.
Tweet thread
— muneeb.btc (@muneeb) December 6, 2021
Ali called himself a “Bitcoiner” and said he had held on to the cryptocurrency through multiple bear markets and “years building apps & protocols on Bitcoin.”
“Bitcoin maximalism assumes a zero-sum world. However, we’re in an expanding crypto economy,” said Ali.
He said that “attacking developers” and “new use-cases” doesn’t help Bitcoin but only encourages innovators to move to other ecosystems like Ethereum and Solana.
He cited the examples of Tether and non fungible tokens or NFTs both of which initially used the BTC network but gradually moved on to Ethereum.
“Maximalists have called Ethereum a “scam” for years now. This has not stopped the growth of Ethereum,” tweeted Ali.
He drew a contrast between Bitcoin and Ethereum by pointing out that people who “discover” ETH or other L1s “find a thriving community of builders and apps.”
“They make up their minds based on their findings and not by an angry mob of maximalists.”
Ali said that despite the “many shortcomings” of Ethereum, Bitcoin has “has little to offer as alternatives.”
“There are no major decentralized exchanges, liquidity protocols, stablecoins in the Bitcoin ecosystem.”
Ali also trained guns on maximalists for their attack on venture capital but clarified that his criticism was not of people but the strategy surrounding maximalism.
11/ This thread is not an attack on Bitcoin maximalists, the people. Several of them are my friends, and I understand why they focus on Bitcoin.
This thread is questioning the maximalist strategy. The maximalist strategy is ineffective, and we need to replace it.
— muneeb.btc (@muneeb) December 6, 2021
See Also: How To Buy Stacks (STX)
Why It Matters: Bitcoin dominance, which was above 63% in December 2020, has declined to 40.61%.
Ali noted in his tweets that the efforts of developers were bearing fruits on non-Bitcoin blockchains and that is why Bitcoin dominance is dropping.
“The only meaningful response is to build better products for Bitcoin,” said the Stacks entrepreneur.
12/ In summary, it’s time to build Bitcoin apps to make BTC a productive asset.
We should welcome devs & entrepreneurs. The maximalist strategy served its purpose in 2017 and no longer works; lets focus on the builders now.
Long BTC, long innovation. LFG
— muneeb.btc (@muneeb) December 7, 2021
The token associated with Stacks, a Layer 1 solution focused on bringing smart contracts and decentralized apps to Bitcoin, touched an all-time high of $3.61 in November.
There is an expansive and extensive ecosystem of startups engaged in building “user-owned internet” on Bitcoin with Slacks.
“Stacks turns Bitcoin from being a passive asset into an active asset that is programmable and available to all,” said Mitchell Cuevas, the head of growth at Stacks Foundation in a Benzinga exclusive.
Price Action: At press time over 24 hours, Bitcoin traded 4.09% higher at $51,087.91 while Stacks was up 7.83% at $2.40.
Read Next: These Ethereum Rivals Struck Big Gains Last Week Even As Bitcoin, Dogecoin Crashed
