“Should Bitcoin be a platform?” Jan Smejkal, CSO of Xverse Wallet developer, talks

12th Beyond The Price

The 12th “GM Radio: Beyond The Price” published by CoinPost Global on the 6th was attended by Jan Smejkal CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) of crypto asset (virtual currency) Bitcoin (BTC) wallet “Xverse” are doing.

This distribution is a reconstruction of GM Radio, which was distributed in May of this year on the Twitter (currently X) space, as Beyond The Price.

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Xverse not only supports Bitcoin, but also Ordinals, which are tokens such as BRC-20 tokens and NFTs (non-fungible tokens). Wallet is available as an iOS and Android app and as a Chrome browser extension. In addition, it is also possible to perform “Stacking” to lock STX tokens and earn Bitcoin as a reward.

connection:Bitcoin Layer 2 “Stacks (STX)” has soared approximately 6 times since the beginning of the year

The project’s mission is to give people control over their data and assets. To that end, we are building an Internet and a decentralized economy that is easy to own and access by users.

connection: Bitcoin Ordinals wallet “Xverse” raises 720 million yen in seed investment

Podcast content

The title of this distribution is “Don’t just get monkey images, make a real revolution.” You can listen to Mr. Smejkal’s podcast (in English) below, but here we will introduce the main points of the broadcast.

First of all, regarding the fact that the Bitcoin blockchain, which was originally developed as a payment system, is being used to issue other tokens such as NFTs, I would like to discuss “Should Bitcoin simply be money or should it become a platform?” I asked.

Mr. Smejkal prefaced this by saying that there are a variety of views, saying, “Since block rewards are decreasing, we deny the idea that we need to raise fees if we want to maintain network security in the long term.” I can’t do it,” he claimed.

“I think using it as money will generate enough fees in the future, and Ordinals is achieving that right now.” He expressed the view that it would increase the

connection: Possibility has emerged that Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens will not be able to be issued.

Smejkal also made positive comments about Bitcoin’s role as a platform in an interview at the Web3 conference “WebX 2023,” saying, “An innovative culture surrounding Bitcoin has emerged, and it is being supported by the Ordinals movement.”

Ultimately, he said he believes there will be more innovation in Bitcoin as Ordinals contributes to the network and more builders rediscover Bitcoin.

connection: Interview with Bitcoin NFT management wallet “Xverse” developer | WebX Conference

Migration to Bitcoin

In relation to this point, Mr. Smejkal was also asked, “Are people interested in NFTs joining the Bitcoin network?” To this question, he answered, “I’m participating.”

“While some users are joining from the Bitcoin network via Xverse in search of Ordinals, many users are coming from other blockchains such as Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL).” .

He said the purpose of Xverse is to “bring as many people to the Bitcoin network as possible.” He also claims that in order to achieve that goal, “a variety of use cases, including art, are necessary.”

He also said that while some people become interested in Bitcoin because of Ordinals, others continue to use it because they feel that “Bitcoin is the most secure and immutable blockchain.”

Smejkal himself says he’s drawn to NFTs not only because of Bitcoin, but also because of the way they build community. This means, for example, that NFTs can be used as incentives to increase user retention.

Bitcoin technology transition

When issuing Ordinals or BRC-20 tokens, a process called inscription is performed. The engraving makes it possible to write token data in association with Bitcoin’s smallest unit, “Satoshi”, which is a different mechanism from traditional NFTs.

This time, Smejkal compared engravings to NFTs from another blockchain. At the time, he pointed out that “most NFTs on Ethereum simply point to files located off-blockchain, whereas in the case of engravings, many actually store files on the blockchain.” .

This means that for the majority of Ethereum NFTs, the digital content itself is not stored on the blockchain. This does not guarantee the authenticity or uniqueness of the digital content itself in a true sense.

Smejkal also pointed out, “Because of this feature, engraving technology is now being used in other blockchains.” In November, similar tokens were confirmed to have been issued on the Polygon (MATIC) blockchain.

connection: Polygon, gas prices skyrocket due to rapid increase in transactions; Is “PRC-20 token” an influence?