Building the Future of Money and Finance on Bitcoin

We need a cultural, philosophical, and technological movement that will return Bitcoin to its once prominent position in the decentralized finance landscape, says Willem Shroé, CEO Botanix Labs.

In the realm of decentralized finance (DeFi), a once-prominent figure has been fading into the background: Bitcoin (BTC). While other blockchains have been capitalizing on Bitcoin’s relative stagnation, incubating ecosystems teeming with applications, users, and capital, Bitcoin’s own landscape has remained comparatively barren.

However, a recent surge in inscription activity on the Bitcoin blockchain, coupled with the emergence of runes, new layer-two (L2) networks, and other innovative projects, seems to be heralding a renaissance of sorts for the original cryptocurrency.

This development marks a return to Bitcoin’s roots, as it was initially conceived as a platform for financial innovation and experimentation. In the early days of Bitcoin, a plethora of applications sprouted up on its network, ranging from Tether and Bisq to fungible and non-fungible tokens.

Yet, over time, a strong ideological undercurrent emerged within the Bitcoin community, discouraging and even combating these projects, largely due to their perceived deviation from Bitcoin’s primary mission of disrupting traditional finance.

This ideological battle, combined with Bitcoin’s inherent limitations, ultimately led to other blockchains capitalizing on this anti-innovation stance, offering faster speeds, lower costs, and smart contract capabilities, which attracted developers, users, and capital away from Bitcoin.

Now, as we witness a renewed wave of innovation on Bitcoin, it’s crucial to recognize that the world’s best public blockchain is also the natural home for the best financial applications. Bitcoin boasts the largest and most recognizable brand, both within and outside the crypto industry, and it commands the greatest pool of capital, which currently stands at $1 trillion.

Moreover, Bitcoin is the most battle-tested public blockchain, with thousands of nodes running worldwide and 100% network uptime for 11 consecutive years, making it the largest, most secure, most decentralized, and most reliable permissionless financial network.

Solana (SOL), Ethereum (ETH), and other blockchains have spent years capitalizing on Bitcoin’s lack of innovation by incubating ecosystems that house hundreds of applications, thousands of users, and billions of dollars. Even the Lightning Network, long championed by the “anti-DeFi” sect in Bitcoin, has seen the number of coins on its network largely stagnate.

It’s time to recommit to making Bitcoin the home of innovation and experimentation in the crypto industry once more. If Bitcoin is not the gateway to permissionless finance for new users, then we will have failed.

If Bitcoin becomes nothing more than an asset custodied by ETF providers, then we will have failed. And if the world’s best form of money is not adopted alongside a native financial system powered by Bitcoin, then we will have failed.

The technocultural norms and habits that have stunted Bitcoin development for years must be stomped out completely. Building the future of money and finance on Bitcoin requires an army of builders.

In the past two years, hundreds of new founders and engineers have started building on Bitcoin, but that number needs to continue growing exponentially. At Botanix Labs, we are developing one piece of Bitcoin’s future with a Layer 2 network called the Spiderchain.

But everyone building anything with Bitcoin should be proud to be among this multitude of people collaborating with each other to bootstrap a decentralized financial ecosystem. Bitcoin’s best days are still ahead thanks to the combined efforts of this group of builders.

Bitcoin is a civilization-altering invention that should empower ordinary people to escape the control of a financial system that is so concentrated and censored. But to do this, Bitcoin needs to cultivate an alternative financial system to replace its incumbents.

Experimentation and innovation should be core tenets in this new financial era of transparency, decentralization, and permissionlessness. What Moy and thousands of others see as Bitcoin’s future in finance is up to all of us to actualize. Considering all that is at stake, we have to at least try.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners, affiliates, or subsidiaries.

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, and do not sell my personal information policies apply to CoinDesk, Inc., a part of Digital Currency Group, which includes CoinDesk, Inc. and its owners, affiliates, and subsidiaries.

Willem Shroé is CEO and Co-Founder of Botanix Labs, a Web3 infrastructure company building on Bitcoin. He was previously a venture capitalist at IOSG Ventures and an early employee at BlockFi.

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