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Homepage > News > Editorial > Hodling breaks Bitcoin part 3 In the previous installments of this series, we explored how the HODL culture has undermined Bitcoin’s privacy and squandered its potential as a global medium of exchange. Now, in Part 3, we take a closer look at the long-term consequences of discouraging real economic activity on the blockchain. When Bitcoin’s network is locked in a state of dormancy, with small blocks designed to limit usage, it doesn’t just slow growth—it cultivates a toxic ecosystem driven by rent-seeking behavior and gatekeeping. With few opportunities to create new value, the network’s dominant players become more focused on controlling the narrative, extracting fees, and consolidating power, all while strangling the very innovation that Bitcoin was meant to unleash. Rent-seekers, gatekeepers and aristocrats: The new blockchain class system The decision to artificially limit Bitcoin’s block size is not just a technical choice but an economic and cultural decision. By capping capacity, the network has deliberately suppressed opportunities for value creation, forcing stakeholders into a zero-sum game. Instead of fostering vibrant commerce, where businesses and individuals generate wealth through productive activity, (BTC, but also the other split assets, to varying degrees) has become a battleground of middlemen. These actors position themselves to capture value, not by building anything new but by controlling access to information, liquidity, or network participation. What has emerged is a kind of aristocratic hierarchy with distinct classes: Influencers: Social media personalities who act as ideological gatekeepers, setting the tone for Bitcoin’s toxic purity tests and deciding who is “in” or “out” of the community. They’ve embraced cancel culture, using social shaming and exclusionary tactics to weed out anyone with new business ideas or innovative uses for Bitcoin that deviate from the “HODL only” orthodoxy. Exchanges and liquidity providers: These actors…

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Filed under: News - @ October 15, 2024 1:27 pm