Thread by @RyanTheGentry

So I have a lot of thoughts about this. History is definitely rhyming as we build the Internet of Value today in a similar manner to how the Internet of Communications was built from the 1970s to now. But many people are applying the wrong lessons from the past to the present!

https://twitter.com/zackseward/status/1316418497078063104

Email (SMTP) was invented in 1982, and was the Internet's (TCP/IP) killer app for 30+ years and arguably still is. When @ChairmanHeath says "Internet" he's prob referring to HTTP, invented in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee and popularized by the browser, the Internet's second killer app

I can't remember where I got this screenshot, apologies, but it perfectly distills what HTTP brought to the table: more media types beyond text!

Similarly, Bitcoin only transfers BTC, while Ethereum allows for many types of "value" transfer. Pattern matching to HTTP isn't crazy.

But it does fail to understand where BTC and ETH sit in the Internet of Value's "stack". SMTP and HTTP are Layer 3 protocols on top of TCP/IP. BTC and ETH are Layer 1 protocols that need L2 to scale.

Bitcoin learned from IP that on L1 simplicity and stability are the key.

Bitcoin also understands that to harness Metcalfe's Law and build a compounding network effect with a comms protocol, you need the lowest barrier to entry to run the software so that it runs on the max number of computers.

This is obvious in bitcoind, lnd, and other implmtns.

Ethereum was wrong about introducing complexity on the base layer, as they're now realizing with high fees & worries about MEV.

I think they're also wrong to focus on rollups first instead of channel networks, given that rollups only involve one operator node.

This is important because I think the order of operations here (h/t @MartyBent) is:
L1 - stable and balanced PoW
L2 - maximally distributed network of p2p nodes (plus some rollupy things for pooled liquidity...)
L3 - arbitrary value transfer protocol, like HTTP (RGB? DLCs? idk)

If this is a competition, and I don't think it is since Bitcoin has so obviously and resoundingly won L1 and has a huge head start in L2, the focus should be on quickly getting to that L3 protocol that enables the Netscape-like killer mainstream app without compromising L1 or L2.

Focusing on apps and vanity metrics on L1 when we know theres a glass ceiling on their scale given L1s limitations is silly. Uniswap, though a very impressive product from a team I have a lot of respect for, has max 100k users all-time. Netscape had 5M MAUs in 1996! It's so early

In conclusion, @ChairmanHeath you're on the wrong level of the stack bro! We haven't gotten to L3 protocols yet. But good luck getting a cushy job at Consensys after your term ends 😉

When we do get to L3, you might be right that the killer feature is enabling value transfer of assets other than BTC. Read @giacomozucco for why it'll happen on L3 of LNP/BP, and not on Ethereum.

m.alza.co.uk/lnp-bp-lightni…