So mempool. space Features were recently added to detect Runes and Ordinals transactions, which were completely missed by Bitcoin cash cap holders. As a Bitcoin user and observer of Bitcoin culture, this whole drama seemed completely normal and predictable.
Over time, an ideological divide has developed between Bitcoin’s critical extremists, “who see Bitcoin as just money and nothing else,” and those who are open to building things on Bitcoin, whether innovative or cryptographic, such as Ordinals, Runes, and Tokens.
With this divided mindset now firmly established, backlash from mempool.space is inevitable.
To clarify some of the FUDs being circulated:
The open source Mempool project does not support “ord” daemon integration – https://t.co/VXxVsvUuQN It only shows data in the Bitcoin mempool and blockchain and from the Lightning network.
This means that if you search for a transaction…
— Mempool (@mempool) October 12, 2024
From a pure standpoint, anything beyond the Bitcoin protocol is considered heresy.
So, even just the neutral action of mempool.space displays Runes and Ordinals data for users to see. Anger. It doesn’t matter if you make one of the best open source Bitcoin explorers more useful and data-rich – you touched on the “forbidden” topic, and all rationality goes out the window.
This reaction follows the rules of the game exactly. Critical extremists responded angrily, as they always do to X.
These clowns have managed to bribe one of the longest-running and highest-quality open source projects in the space to classify transactions that… “It contains ordinals, inscriptions and runes” as. It’s a shame, to say the least.
None of these tricks #Bitcoin. All of them… https://t.co/ietxCH3T1f
— Knut Svanholm ₿ = ∞/21M = 1/🤡🌍 (@knutsvanholm) October 14, 2024
However, season 2 fans put their money where their mouth is and donated it to the helpful platform, Double the number from individual sponsors and nearly three times the project’s annual revenue from individual contributors. They financially supported a tool they found useful rather than just complaining. Actions speak louder than words.
Bitcoin proponents should also put money where their mouth is and support Bitcoin explorers who do not discover rune and ordinal transactions. I’ve yet to see them do that instead of yelling at X, which says a lot about them.
Both sides acted correctly.
This kind of drama is inevitable when you have two factions with fundamentally different viewpoints. While some opinions may exaggerate morality, this is ultimately human nature. We will continue to see this pure versus practical struggle as Bitcoin evolves and splits into divergent philosophies.
Rationality gives way to faith and identity. But understanding these dynamics helps contextualize the memory reaction.
This article is a takes. The opinions expressed are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
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