If you’re new to the crypto space, it’s tough to grasp how rapidly narratives shift, especially if you’re trying to catch up. Trends fade, and memes lose their charm. This year’s seasonal craze is feeling the pressure as Bitcoin’s momentum wanes.
While this might seem like a temporary setback from the usual bull market correction, strong underlying currents are challenging popular scaling narratives. As the tide recedes, it’s becoming clear who’s struggling.
Is the Airdrop Meta Over?
Recent projects claiming to “build on Bitcoin” have shown more opportunism than innovation. BitVM and ordinals sparked genuine interest, but follow-through has been lacking. Many operators have lazily adopted the Ethereum playbook for Bitcoin without doing the actual engineering work.
This modular cottage industry has harmed Ethereum’s scaling efforts. Recent developments have highlighted the misaligned economic incentives further.
The infrastructure race has been hindered by promoters’ ability to print tokens excessively. However, it seems this trend is starting to collapse, much like the pivot away from ICOs after Dentacoin’s infamous fundraising. A similar shift is happening now.
A few months ago, points had taken over the token airdrop meta. Alternative execution layers promised rewards for liquidity on their networks. The idea was to incentivize usage with tokens distributed to participants. However, this has backfired. Recently anticipated token airdrops have highlighted the flaws in this approach.
How do you verify a user’s identity in a pseudonymous system? You can’t. This loophole allows savvy actors to impersonate numerous users, attracting mercenaries who exploit new layers for profit.
Why discuss tokens in a Bitcoin article? It’s a reminder to avoid any Bitcoin scaling proposal involving tokens. These projects, often lagging behind Ethereum standards, are likely to shortchange users to capitalize on remaining liquidity. Stay clear of them.
Ethereum’s Identity Crisis
Bitcoinlayers reported that more than half of current Bitcoin scaling proposals plan to use Ethereum’s EVM. This statistic is puzzling. Associating these with Bitcoin might be generous, but the market shows interest.
Ethereum is currently volatile. It’s not a civil war, but battle lines are forming, affecting its rollup-centric roadmap. I’ve previously discussed Ethereum’s network fragmentation. The situation is escalating, prompting serious debates and self-reflection.
One developer group advocates for enshrining rollup operations into the protocol to consolidate activity and improve user experience. Another group warns this could centralize MEV extraction and impact censorship resistance. Vitalik Buterin might need to come up with another innovative solution.
The fatigue over EVM execution environments is evident. The previously celebrated modular thesis is losing ground, and narratives are shifting again.
This timing isn’t ideal for emerging Bitcoin layers, which are already looking outdated before launch.
Memetic Exhaustion
Memes follow cycles, and the latest iteration has lost some appeal. This is another sign that new Bitcoin layers are late to the game. In their absence, what market exists for the infrastructure being built?
The ground is shifting for new Bitcoin builders. Those who put in the actual work may have a better chance of surviving this bull market. Learning from the experiments on other platforms is crucial. Patience is warranted given the rapidly changing landscape.
