Trust Machines is carrying the momentum from Bitcoin’s big year into TOKEN2049.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with TOKEN2049, it’s one of the APAC region’s flagship crypto industry events that features some of the biggest global names in crypto and Web3. This year’s lineup at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore reflects the importance of the event, highlighting some of crypto’s most influential innovators.
As such, you can imagine how excited we are that Trust Machines CEO Muneeb Ali will be speaking at this year’s event along with our marketing advisor Dan Held. Their panel on September 13, titled “Beyond Satoshi: Defining the Meta on Bitcoin” will reflect on how the Bitcoin blockchain has evolved over the years, and what needs to be done for the Bitcoin economy to reach its true potential.
It’s a fitting subject, given that we’re just over a month away from the Bitcoin whitepaper’s 15th anniversary. But in a year full of new innovations on Bitcoin, it’s as good a time as any to determine how the Bitcoin Renaissance that we have witnessed will dictate the development of the blockchain.
The Bitcoin Ethos
When Satoshi Nakamoto published his Bitcoin whitepaper on October 31, 2008, he emphasized a number of core values and principles that still drive the Bitcoin ethos today. It is an ethos that serves as a testament to the ideals of decentralization, trustlessness and individual sovereignty.
At its core, Bitcoin represents a revolutionary departure from traditional financial systems that challenges how individuals have interacted with centralized institutions. It embodies the belief that individuals should have full say over their own assets, free from the constraints of intermediaries. This is reflected in Bitcoin’s highly secure and decentralized design, which was built with the intent to provide financial autonomy and user control.
Moreover, it also champions the principles of sound money. By promoting a borderless, inclusive and transparent financial system, Bitcoin not only challenges the status quo, but also raises questions about the future of money and the potential for a more equitable global financial landscape.
The Case for Bitcoin L2s
But part of this more equitable global financial landscape also involves building additional use cases that would unlock the true value of Bitcoin.
White Bitcoin has, by far, the biggest market cap among all cryptocurrencies, its value is largely unlocked as the blockchain itself was designed to prioritize security and decentralization. This has led to scalability challenges with the Bitcoin blockchain.
However, Bitcoin layers have played an increasingly important role in helping Bitcoin overcome these scalability challenges. Layers like Lightning, Stacks and RSK have increased transaction efficiency on the blockchain and enabled smart contract functionality, to name a few contributions. Altogether, this has unlocked numerous use cases for Bitcoin that has allowed the community to explore everything from DeFi protocols, NFTs, DAOs and more.
Despite the innovations that come with Bitcoin layers, the entire Bitcoin L2 market cap is still below $2 billion. What this suggests is that like the Bitcoin main chain, the potential of Bitcoin L2s has remained largely untapped.
Looking Ahead to TOKEN2049
With the advent of the Ordinals protocol, the excitement around Bitcoin has attracted builders from all ecosystems and shed new light on existing Bitcoin technologies, including its L2s. This has reinvigorated conversations around the Bitcoin blockchain’s prospects of becoming the priority settlement layer for Web3.
Ali and Held will be taking the stage at 3:55PM local time with Nic Carter and Eric Wall. Standard Crypto's Alok Vasudev will moderate the discussion, which promises to touch on Bitcoin's past, present and future to determine what could be next for the world's oldest blockchain.
After all, Bitcoin's journey to becoming the bedrock of Web3 is just beginning.
