So mempool.space Features to detect Rune and Ordinal transactions were recently added, and Bitcoin monetary maximalists completely missed it. As a Bitcoiner and observer of Bitcoin culture, this whole drama seemed completely normal and predictable to me.
Over time, an ideological divide has emerged between Bitcoin monetary maximalists who see Bitcoin only as money and those open to building things on top of Bitcoin, such as innovative cryptographic technologies like Ordinals, Runes, and tokens.
With this divided mentality now entrenched, mempool.space’s reaction was inevitable.
To clarify some FUD that are circulating out there:
The Mempool open source project does not support “ord” daemon integration – https://t.co/VXxVsvUuQN It only shows data contained in the mempool and blockchain of Bitcoin and the Lightning network.
This means that if you are looking for a transaction…
— mempool (@mempool) October 12, 2024
From the purist point of view, anything that goes beyond the Bitcoin protocol is heresy.
So even the simple neutral mempool.space action displaying Rune and Ordinal data for its users to see caused scandal. It doesn’t matter if you made one of the best open source Bitcoin explorers more useful and data-rich – you touched on the “forbidden” topic and all rationality went out the window.
This reaction followed the playbook perfectly. Monetary maximalists responded to the perceived apostasy with fury, as they always do in X.
However, season 2 audiences put their money where their mouth is and donated to the helpful platform. doubling the number from individual sponsors and approximately triple the project’s annual revenue from individual contributors. They financially supported a tool they found useful instead of just complaining. Actions on words.
Bitcoin purists should also put their money where their mouth is and support Bitcoin explorers who fail to detect Runes and Ordinals transactions. I have yet to see them do this instead of just yelling at X, which says a lot about them.
Both parties acted faithfully to their customs.
This type of drama is inevitable when you have two factions with fundamentally different perspectives. While certain opinions may go too far ethically, this is ultimately part of human nature. We will continue to see this purist versus pragmatic conflict as Bitcoin evolves and splits into divergent philosophies.
Rationality gives way to belief and identity. But understanding this dynamic helps contextualize the mempool’s reaction.
This article is a Carry. The opinions expressed are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
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