Thread by @balajis

@andy_matuschak Most of @elidourado’s arguments for ETH are good. But it just serves a different purpose than BTC.

Ethereum is programmable finance. Bitcoin is digital gold. Even EIP-1559 won’t change that because it signals that Ethereum *has* a mutable monetary policy.

@andy_matuschak @elidourado It’s like when people used to say that Twitter was just one feature of Facebook, the status update.

Products that appear superficially similar early on develop shared cultures and use-cases and differentiate over time. So too for coins.

@andy_matuschak @elidourado Immutability (BTC) and financial innovation (ETH) are both incredibly valuable, but by their very nature can’t be the same thing.

A constantly changing and improving platform (Ethereum) is culturally different from a finished, reliable, immutable coin (Bitcoin).

@andy_matuschak @elidourado There’s a continuum, of course. When BTC started it was highly innovative. Then it got feature locked as digital gold and much innovation went to ETH. Then Ethereum itself became valuable and much high-risk stuff went to other chains, like Solana & Flow.

It’s the cycle of life.

@andy_matuschak @elidourado Perhaps the bit I disagree with @elidourado most on is his take on hodling.

Long-term hodling in the face of constant media attacks, price crashes, and financial temptations signals loyalty and faith to a cause larger than oneself.

As the meme goes:

https://twitter.com/elidourado/status/1388564143662407680