Amir Taaki talks about Segwit, Ethereum and more

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Amir Taaki talks about Segwit, Ethereum and more

Amir Taaki is one of the first developers to start working on Bitcoin.

In two recent interviews on The Tatiana Show and The Crypto Show, Taaki explained his personal point of view on the current state of Bitcoin and the need to preserve digital currency’s core values.

Also, Taaki talked about a power struggle for the blockchain and his support for Bitcoin researcher Peter Todd and the various contributors to Bitcoin Core.

For him, the protocol development debate over Bitcoin is between those who think Bitcoin is a revolutionary technology to challenge central banks and those who simply believe it as only a payments innovation.

“With the Blockstream guys and Peter Todd, I have a lot of faith in those people. I was involved in Bitcoin since the very beginning, so I interacted with a lot of different people, I know what their personalities are, what their personal motivations are. I kind of think that most of the guys who are on that side have a pure intent, which is an intent for Bitcoin, not for their own personal gain, not to elevate themselves. A lot of them even existed in the shadows or even had the chance to gain power at different points but didn’t really fight to take power over Bitcoin.”

According to Taaki, people who cannot make informed decisions related to the changes to make on the Bitcoin protocol only need to look at those who are supporting each of the various proposals.

“When you have a guy like Peter Todd who is on one side and then you have people like Gavin Andresen and Roger Ver and other people on the other side, then it’s pretty clear which side to support. The developers who have worked on Bitcoin since its very beginning and got nothing personally out of working on Bitcoin — that work on Bitcoin because they believe in it based on principle — yeah I trust those guys,” explained Taaki.

Taaki quoted Gavin Andresen as someone who “tried to dominate the development process through titles rather than an organization of people and a governance process” because of his work at the Bitcoin Foundation.

Please note that the original Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) that explained the governance process for protocol development was a Taaki’s idea, although it has been replaced by BIP 2.

Bitcoin’s Main Values to be Preserved

Even if Taaki said that Bitcoin had just transcended “one really big power struggle for the heart of Bitcoin as a technology” during his speech at The Tatiana Show, SegWit2x was announced not long after this appearance.

“What me and Cody Wilson was — there was a side of Bitcoin that was just about [opposition to] the central banks and there was another side opposing that with different values to us. Basically, we’ve managed to get over that, and those values that were at the core of Bitcoin have been preserved. But it’s not enough to simply preserve Bitcoin as it is or what it is.”

According to Taaki, Bitcoin’s main values need to be preserved and also need to find their way in the Bitcoin Core codebase.

“It’s a dangerous moment because, if Bitcoin continues how it is, it’s just going to kind of meander around and then it’s going to fizzle out because it doesn’t pull people forwards toward something greater,” Taaki added.

Bitcoin vs Ethereum

Taaki also talked about his thoughts on the current state of Ethereum.

In his view, Ethereum is an example of developers going to their computers to escape the real world and creating toys instead of practical applications that can have an impact on the world.

“They’re developing a lot of cool toys, [but] it’s not really fulfilling a coherent need. That’s the biggest problem with Ethereum. I respect Vitalik for his technical knowledge, but there’s no social knowledge behind it.”

According to Taaki, he has always stuck with Bitcoin because it has “solved very real, practical problems that face humanity now.”

“Bitcoin is a political tool to actually change the society, to excise these real problems at the root of the society,” he said.

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Amelia Tomasicchio
Amelia Tomasicchio

Amelia Tomasicchio is a content writer and marketer of Bitcoin-related news and fintech startups. She started writing about Bitcoin in 2014 and she graduated in Rome with an essay about movie industry related to Bitcoin.

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