Outside Source
Bitcoin’s journey from idea to reality (and near six figures) has been amazing, and Hemi co-founder Jeff Garzik says the network is ready for its next growth stage.
Podcast
Since its global debut on Oct. 31, 2008, Bitcoin has grown from a whimsically ambitious idea to an asset with a multitrillion-dollar market capitalization that is reforming how financial institutions view money.
Despite its nearly unbelievable journey from a mere idea to catalyzing a revolution within finance, many people say there is much more that Bitcoin (BTC) can accomplish.
On Episode 50 of The Agenda podcast, hosts Ray Salmond and Jonathan DeYoung chat with Hemi co-founder Jeff Garzik about his experience as a Bitcoin developer, extraordinary stories from the digital asset’s fledgling years and how Hemi aims to equip Bitcoin with additional use cases by bridging its ecosystem with that of Ethereum.
Bitcoin is a “bombproof” blockchain, but more functionality is needed
Bitcoin has established itself as a medium of exchange, store of value and a handful of other things, but its integration into other aspects of the industry, like decentralized finance and decentralized applications, pales in comparison to the ecosystems available on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains.
According to Garzik, one issue that complicates Bitcoin’s growth within these spaces is transaction costs when the network is congested and some differences in code, which can complicate interoperability.
“So, just like on the highway, you’ve got congestion pricing. In some highways, if the highway is really congested, then the congestion pricing fee is very high. If the highway is pretty empty of cars, then the congestion fee is very low or even free.”
Garzik said that Hemi is focused on the Bitcoin network’s “upward trajectory,” where rollups, layer 2s and other ancillary transaction processing routes become seamless, everyday options for the network. Garzik described such a scenario as “the next stage of evolution for Bitcoin writ large.”
“Bitcoin is now growing into the ability to scale across multiple dimensions, meaning multiple layer 2s and users will benefit from that additional programmability. […] But they’re still building on Bitcoin. They’re still extending Bitcoin. They’re still using Bitcoin, the token. So, it’s really a new permutation. It’s a new evolution of Bitcoin, the organism, as I like to call it.”
Related: Bitcoin life insurance is offering BTC hodlers new tax advantages
There’s still more to Bitcoin than its dollar value
Nowadays, when you hear any mention of Bitcoin, your mind probably immediately fixates on its price — but Garzik says that there’s still much more to BTC than that. To him, Bitcoin is just another one of the many examples of how open-source technologies positively impact people’s lives on a day-to-day basis.
This article first appeared at Cointelegraph.com News
