Ordinals founder's speech in Hong Kong: StarWorld Casino, why not?

A year ago, when Ordinals was just beginning to gain momentum, BlockBeats reported on the first two Ordinals events in Hong Kong last year. (Related reading: " This may be the first gathering of the Bitcoin Ordinals community ")

A year later, the Ordinals ecosystem has thrived. In the past week, Bitcoin Asia, Ordinals Asia and various Bitcoin-related Side Events have been held in full swing in Hong Kong, which can be called Asia's "Bitcoin Week".

At the Ordinals Asia event on May 11, Casey Rodarmor, founder of the Ordinals protocol, made a solo appearance at the end and delivered a speech of about 15 minutes. In this speech full of laughter, all Ordinals enthusiasts got close to Casey himself and his thoughts.

TL;DR

- Bitcoin is the strongest cryptocurrency. Many other chains or protocols outside of Bitcoin are rich but fragile.

- When developing on Bitcoin, developers should adapt their ideas to Bitcoin, instead of letting the chain adapt to your ideas like developing on other chains.

- Ordinals, inscriptions and runes have been very successful because they are "simple". Some protocols such as Taproot Assets and RGB that have been under construction for many years are also good, but too complicated.

- Don't regard Ordinals, inscriptions and rune ecology as a high-end technical ecology. Being honest and inclusive to yourself is also very meaningful to bring a more interesting and decentralized social, gambling and entertainment ecology to degens.

- Continue to build a social, gaming and entertainment ecosystem, with the ultimate goal of attracting more people to know Bitcoin, use Bitcoin, and think about the value and significance of Bitcoin.

- Ordinals has always been everyone's, and future updates will be jointly promoted by all builders. All ideas and discussions can be seen on GitHub, working openly and transparently without being arbitrary.

Hell Money「冥券」

「Hell Money」is actually the name of the podcast that Aaron and I started about 2 years ago.

「Hell Money」is a weird name, and I think most people don’t know what it means. Actually, 「Hell Money」is the literal translation of the Chinese word 冥券. 冥券 is a kind of paper money, and it looks like this:

When Casey showed this picture, the Chinese people at the scene were all happy

If you are a Chinese, I think you know what this is. If you are not, but you live in a Chinese area, you may remember that when you were a child, when you first went to a Chinese restaurant, you would see a small orange or red altar in the corner, with oranges and a few burning incense sticks, dedicated to the ancestors. Another way for Chinese people to worship their ancestors is "Hell Money", which is actually the currency used for the ancestors who have been buried.

I first saw "Hell Money" when I was a child, if I remember correctly, it was in Chinatown in San Francisco. It is like a cultural product from another world, very mysterious and very strange. Back to why we named the podcast "Hell Money", there are two meanings.

First, legal tender is "Hell Money". Legal tender is "devil's money" and has been issued in such a huge amount that it deserves to be burned like "Hell Money". Another meaning is that Bitcoin is also "Hell Money", but unlike legal tender, Bitcoin is so robust and powerful that everyone from the living to the dead and even the gods can appreciate its charm.

Resistance and the long game「Resistance, a long game」

Why build on Bitcoin? This is about resistance, a long game. When I first got involved in Bitcoin in 2013, I felt that Bitcoin would be over in a very short time, because at any time the authorities could intervene and try to destroy Bitcoin, and there were two such examples before Bitcoin, one was Liberty Reverse and the other was e-gold. In the past 11 years, Bitcoin has encountered surprisingly little government resistance, and even China and the United States have not formed a real attack on Bitcoin or even the entire cryptocurrency.

However, we need to keep in mind that the threat of governments to Bitcoin exists. Although the situation is still relatively good so far, and governments are just "mildly unhappy", no one can guarantee what will happen in the future. This is why I build on Bitcoin - if governments really want to attack cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is the only technology and platform that can effectively defend.

Many other chains or protocols outside of Bitcoin are rich, with a lot of money, but this is their only advantage. In addition, they are complex and extremely centralized, and very fragile. When the future that may deteriorate at any time really comes, they will be destroyed or collapsed, or worse, become tools of regulation and censorship.

Some suggestions for Bitcoin builders「Some suggestions for Bitcoin builders」

Keep it simple「Keep everything simple」

I have some suggestions for builders of Bitcoin and even outside of Bitcoin, and the most important one is "keep everything simple". I was talking to a friend I've known for maybe 20 years a while ago about what the best developers we know have in common, and the conclusion is that they keep their creations simple and practical. Complexity always drives people crazy and always makes things difficult. On Ordinals and Runes, although there is some unavoidable complexity, we try to keep them as simple as possible.

Adapt ideas to Bitcoin not the other way around"Adapt ideas to Bitcoin not the other way around"

There is a problem that can make it very difficult to build on Bitcoin. When you build on other chains besides Bitcoin, you may have a high-level idea of what you want to do, and then these chains passively adapt to your idea. But on Bitcoin, your idea needs to adapt to Bitcoin in turn. Rather than directly making a very detailed design to plan what you want to achieve, it is better to have a goal to achieve this idea, and then remind yourself to make the design fit with Bitcoin. Bitcoin will not adapt to you like other chains will, you need to adapt to Bitcoin yourself.

The stupidest thing could possibly work「The stupidest thing could possibly work」

Why did Ordianls, Inscriptions, and Runes become so successful? I think the answer is that they are the simplest ideas that work. Before I launched Inscriptions, there were a few projects that had a huge lead, two of which were Taproot Assets and RGB. I have great respect for these two projects, they are very smart and have been building for a long time, and I used to think they might beat Ordianls. But they made everything too complicated and have not achieved mass adoption to date. Taproot Assets announced something before Runes officially launched, but there was no progress for several months, and a few months later, the "stupid" Runes came and gained huge adoption and enthusiasm. The biggest inspiration for me is that "stupid" things can succeed, while complex things are hard to succeed.

It's not tech「Don't think of Ordinals as technology」

Don't think of Ordinals, inscriptions, and the rune ecosystem as a technology ecosystem. Admittedly, if we think of it as a kind of future finance, such as becoming a bank for African friends, or a revolutionary financial market, it would be very tempting, and I would be very happy if these high-sounding narratives really became a reality one day. But the reality now is that Ordinals, inscriptions, and runes are a technology that is very useful for social, gambling, and entertainment. If we look at Ordinals from this perspective, you can be more honest with yourself and the audience you are committed to serving, and you will no longer feel that you have compromised some of your idealism or principles in order to succeed. If this is a casino that is more transparent, more decentralized, and has a lower house advantage than Las Vegas, all Degen can be happy here, I think this is also very good.

I think the real world gambling capital is Macau? So will something like inscriptions and runes appear in Macau? I don't know haha.

For each of us, it is honest and practical to look at the construction of Ordinals, inscriptions and runes from the perspective of building social, gambling and entertainment products. We don't need to hide anything, let your user experience the fairest and most interesting product. It's like an "interstellar casino", like the experience of going to the future or to a space station through a portal in science fiction, but much more interesting than science fiction - decentralized, ubiquitous, and in our hearts.

All in your hands「Ordinals is yours」

Everything is yours.

As a developer of this protocol, all I can do is to put forward my ideas and let everyone build together, rather than dictate it. For future updates on Ordinals, inscriptions and runes, you can see our ideas and discussions on GitHub. When I have a new idea, I will post an issue on GitHub. We work openly and transparently. Future major updates will be jointly promoted by all of you who are here today or not - all the builders of Ordinals. So, GitHub is Alpha.

No currency is more suitable for Ordinals, inscriptions and runes than Bitcoin. The ultimate goal of my continued construction of this "interstellar casino" is to let more people know Bitcoin, use Bitcoin, think about the value and significance of Bitcoin through it, and let more people embrace this most solid currency that can continuously resist the resistance of reality.

I hope to see your continuous innovation and construction, thank you all.

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