Tag: blockstream

Bitcoin developer and educator Jimmy Song took shots at some of the biggest names in crypto during a recent interview with BitcoinLinux. Topics covered include Blockstream’s Liquid Network, SegWit2X and shopping with credit cards vs cryptocurrency. However, the interview was highlighted with Song’s thoughts specifically on EOS, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Roger Ver.

On the Importance of Growing Young Talent

Song is currently on a world tour educating people about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, both the good and the bad. His hope is to get more young developers involved in the space to help support the next wave of cryptocurrency innovation.

“One of the big lacks in the space was people understanding the material and being willing to teach it, and to do it in a way that people can understand,” said Song. “I’ve been doing some form of teaching, not too often, but enough that I could potentially do something like that. And I quit my corporate job in the middle of last year and I started to do this, and I’ve done like 23 editions of my seminar in the past year and a few months. And by doing that, I’ve been able to train over 400 people.”

Song continued,

“The idea is that, even if one out of either of those guys whom I’ve trained does one commit a year, then I still come out ahead. And that’s the idea, I want to train the next generation of developers. I really mean ‘next generation,’ I’ve taught people as young as 14 and all the way up to people in their 70s… it’s a lot of different people! And getting to teach, that’s my mission: to make Bitcoin stronger by creating more developers.”

On EOS and Scam ICOs

When it comes to where Song would like to see young talent working in the space, he pulled no punches in stating that a staggering majority of cryptocurrency projects are built upon unethical foundations. He even went as far to say that some large projects, including EOS, are scams, and that new developers shouldn’t work on them. He encouraged youngsters to instead start working on open-source projects and to learn as much as possible because developers that understand this area are rare and desirable in the greater marketplace.

“But one of my recommendations is generally to look at what it is that you really wanna do and work towards it. Because working for something like EOS… I don’t think it’s a really idea because it will die in a horrible dumpster fire in the next five years,” Song explained.

He then added that working on half-baked ICOs that are doomed to fail in a year won’t provide developers with any worthwhile credentials in the greater job market. As for what young developers should do, Song had this to say:

“I think most people will do fine trying to learn, getting better and seeing what market opportunities there are. It might involve getting an entry-level job at certain Bitcoin-related companies, or it might be creating a new open-source project. It really depends on the person and what they’re passionate about, and what their goals are. But based on that I have made recommendations and I have students that work in almost every major Bitcoin company around the world, so it’s really up to what you want to achieve and it’s tailored towards the talent of the particular individual. It takes introspection, it takes knowing yourself in order to get there, but that’s the journey I hope they go on in order to really contribute.”

On Bitcoin Cash

Song has an even stronger negative opinion about Bitcoin Cash. He stated in the interview that he believes BCH “has no reason to exist.”

“I wrote an article called ‘Bitcoin Cash is fiat money;’ please go read that if you want to see my arguments about why I think Bitcoin Cash is worthless or it doesn’t really have any value to anybody,” Song advised.

Song was also extremely critical of BCH supporter Roger Ver, who became a controversial figure in the space after abandoning support for Bitcoin. Song cited a frustrating debate that took place between himself and Ver, wherein he felt like Ver was attempting to be manipulative and was disinterested in directing the conversation towards a meaningful back and forth.

“Having met him, my opinion of him has completely changed. I thought he was just a naïve idealist who didn’t really understand what was going on, and it turns out that it’s not the case. He’s very much somebody who wants control things, and this is his way of controlling things. He has the backing of several people in Bitcoin Cash, so he feels like he has more of a voice than others because he has influence…He’s a politician, he doesn’t really care about helping the world or even engaging at the level of ideas. It is all about power for him, and that was really disappointing. He has done some really good things for Bitcoin and I applaud him for that and I said that at the very beginning of my speech, but seeing him like this is so blatant, so obvious, and so sad. It was very disappointing.”

On Ethereum and ERC20

Sticking to the theme that the cryptocurrency industry is plagued by scams, Song also touched on Ethereum, labeling the second-most valuable cryptocurrency network as a platform for poorly designed projects to take advantage of poorly educated investors. He stated:

“As far as ERC20 tokens, they’re using the wrong tool for the job. If you are actually creating some sort of utility token for some sort of distributed service, then that’s the wrong tool because most of the time it’s a decentralized entity trying to capture decentralized value. It doesn’t make any sense. Most of the time, these people are just trying to print their own money and make money off of it. We have a word for that here: it’s called a scam. So I don’t see those things as worth anything.”

Song went on to say that supporting these scams is the foundation of Ethereum. He also said that technologically, he doesn’t consider the platform very interesting.

“Most of the features that they have done are done in a very amateurish way. Like adding Turing completeness… that’s not used by anybody, it’s stupid.”

The post Jimmy Song Rips into EOS, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Roger Ver appeared first on BitcoinLinux.