Charlie Lee starts war of words with “Bitcoin extremists”

Charlie Lee has claimed that “some self-proclaimed Bitcoin Maximalists are actually Bitcoin Extremists” in a recent community Twitter poll.

What is Bitcoin maximalism?

Bitcoin maximalists often look down upon alternative use cases outside the domain of the core Bitcoin protocol (either layer 1 or subsequent layers that are pegged to the Bitcoin blockchain for other applications).

They are generally in support of layer 2 or sidechain-type projects. Examples include the Lightning Network or things like Blockstream Liquid network. However, they have a hatred for all other crypto protocols that were born through centralised fundraising and ICOs, like Ethereum.

Current status of the poll

Lee went on to suggest that “maximalists think Bitcoin is and will remain the dominant cryptocurrency, but there is room for altcoins to exist and even do well.”

In a Twitter poll to his followers, Lee then asked if they see themselves as either a Bitcoin extremist, Bitcoin maximalist, an altcoin maximalist, or a no-coiner.

At the time of writing (with 11 hours left to vote), we have seen nearly 22,000 votes cast, with Bitcoin maximalist in the lead with close to half the votes. In second place was altcoin maximalist with 30%, and finally no-coiner and Bitcoin extremist in last place with around 10% of the vote each.

Responses on CT (Crypto Twitter)

After posting the poll, the Litecoin creator did get a number of interesting replies. Fellow cypherpunk and now CTO of casaHODL Jameson Lopp commented back saying he should have labelled the term as “Bitcoin Supremacists” – as the word extremists has a negative connotation (white supremacists, anyone?).

Tone Vays also came back to Lee with his own rant on extremism. He said, “sh**coin(ers) will now change the language narrative to call people who speak sense about crypto, tech, money, and economics a Bitcoin extremist, because the word maximalist is just not visceral enough to demonize!”

It looks like this debate will rage on a little longer, as Lee also stated that Bitcoin extremism versus Bitcoin maximalism will also be discussed in the next episode of the magical crypto friends podcast (out this week).