This is what Bitcoin has become:
Full blocks, but blocks full of
Whose only purpose is the "Uncommon Goods" memecoin
Entire blocks are the same op_return transaction, with the same addresses over and over
Or consolidations of more 'memecoins'
The number of 'real' transactions, economic transactions, with an economic purpose, is effectively extremely small.
And "this" is what most transactions look like
Pages and Pages and Pages of BRC20 tokens ('minted' in Witness script)
OR the transactions represent ways of stuffing 'data' in order to speculate on playing cards, 'collectible' images, or NFTs
This is not what Bitcoin was supposed to be about.
The number of economic transactions, although potentially 'hidden' under Lightning, is very very small and incredibly minuscule relative to real-world demand.
Meanwhile, there is a massive, significant government-led clampdown on digital privacy
With no easy solutions or "give and take" with governments that want NO 'give and take'... they want total control over money and your privacy.
Meanwhile Nostr, Bitcoin's social media for all practical purposes, is filled with Number-Go-Up feel-good bullshit.
Or conspiracy-theories that have nothing to do with Bitcoin
What good is Bitcoin if no-one is using it???
If blocks are full of junk (worthless NFTs and Memecoins) negligible fees, with very limited real-world monetary usage for actual goods and services...
Even the Monero Boys (and I am not a fan of Monero) speak the truth now and then:
"Presenting Bitcoin to outsiders as an NGU-driven get‑rich‑quick scheme invited the worst of society inside. Now deal with the consequences, you’ll have to live with your own poison. You will never separate money from state because this choices [sic] and behavior!
Fake freedom figthers [sic] all postures, no principles.
He is right, we have invited some of the worst, most speculative and desperate people to Bitcoin... They don't transact, they don't hold their own keys or run a node, all they care about is 'speculation'.
Bitcoiners talk of "challenging the BIS" (bank of international settlements), replacing the Fed, or even pressuring the IMF...
But these things aren't serious if the actual amount of Bitcoin USE is so small.
There is a lot of talk, a lot of noise... but the Memepool doesn't lie.
~5 minutes after the last block... ALL the entire world's on-chain Bitcoin transactions, awaiting confirmation, fit within the non-green parts.
Some Starbucks coffee-lines are longer than this...
How is that going to challenge the BIS or IMF or do anything to improve money?
Bitcoin isn't destined to succeed. Apathy, laziness, greed, or successful state-clampdowns can and will ruin Bitcoin under certain circumstances.
In short, Nostr is full of sandwhich pictures
But it's light on real Bitcoin usage and it shows.
The truth will come to light in the end.