In the past two weeks, however, NFTs have entered Bitcoin’s orbit, thanks to Ordinals.
This newly launched protocol lets users “inscribe” images on satoshis, the lowest denomination of Bitcoin — images that then live in perpetuity on the eponymous blockchain.
With grim inevitability, a user used Ordinals to inscribe an offensive image on the blockchain.
This image — as with all other information on Bitcoin — is inscribed permanently on to satoshis. These images also automatically appear on the Ordinal’s homepage, in this case forcing creator Casey Rodarmor to scramble into action and manually remove the image from the site.
What Mr Rodarmor could never do, though, is permanently remove the image.
As such, this incident — which may seem frivolous and inconsequential to some — has raised serious questions about censorship resistance.
And this is a principle that sits at the very heart of the cryptocurrency industry and certainly at the heart of Bitcoin, which is by far the most censorship-resistant of all chains.
Why care about censorship resistance?
There are mixed views on Bitcoin’s censorship resistance.
Bitcoin proponents contend that it is one of the network’s strongest advantages, an attribute assured by its high level of decentralisation and absolutely critical to the network’s overall health.
Others — including those who long to see stronger regulations brought to the cryptocurrency industry — believe some level of censorship may be required to weed out those using blockchain to launder money, fund illegal enterprises or publish offensive images, for example.
While block explorers can enforce their own moderation policies, users are free to inscribe whatever image they want on to the blockchain.
On the Ordinals scandal, Mr Rodarmor observed: “The inscription is still on the chain and if you run your own copy ofOrdinals — which everybody is free to do — it will not have the config file and you will see the [image] if that is what you so desire.”
The question is, should we care about this? If someone elects to spend their own money defacing a satoshi with an offensive image or something worse, does it warrant our concern?
More than that, does it warrant censorship of Bitcoin or any other blockchain?
The cost of financial freedom
To my mind, Bitcoin’s uncensorable, immutable and permissionless nature is one of its greatest strengths as a currency and the Ordinals imbroglio doesn’t relate to currency.
Instead, it relates to everyday users’ “freedom” to add their own non-financial contributions (digital artefacts, etc) to the network.
A use-case that Satoshi Nakamoto, for all his brilliance, could not have foreseen.
There are clearly benefits to some level of censorship when we are discussing Web3 features such as those offered by Ordinals.
I do not think any of us can be blase about the prospect of criminals freely minting, say, NFTs with grim imagery.
We can fiercely oppose such degeneracy while also being ardent supporters of Bitcoin’s transactional immutability.
Currently, Bitcoin’s founding mission as a transparent, independent currency and store of value available to any citizen is under threat.
Cryptocurrencies — in pictures
The crypto market, which includes currencies such as Bitcoin, pictured, has lost $2 trillion of its value in six months. Unsplash
The price of Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market size, has fallen by 70 per cent this year. Investors and analysts are watching to see if it will dip below $1,000. Unsplash
Dogecoin, supported by Elon Musk, is about 90 per cent down from May last year, yet it is outperforming Bitcoin and Ethereum in the current crash. Unsplash
The government of El Salvador has invested $105 million in Bitcoin. President Nayib Bukele's embrace of the cryptocurrency as legal tender is being questioned as the market crashes. Getty
Changpeng Zhao, founder of crypto exchange giant Binance, has compared the current market turmoil to the dotcom bubble of the early 2000s. Still, the company is aggressively pursuing licensing in international jurisdictions and introducing new products. Getty
Tether is the biggest issuer of stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency pegged to a traditionally stable asset like the US dollar. Most stablecoins are meant to maintain a constant price of $1 and are backed by real reserve funds, making it easy to convert crypto investments into cash. But Tether's financial statements show that may not be true, leaving the issuer and its investors vulnerable. Unsplash
The recent crypto crash can in part be attributed to the collapse of TerraUSD, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar through algorithms and linked to a "sister" cryptocurrency named Luna. When the price of Luna plummeted, TerraUSD also fell, creating a “death spiral” to practically zero for both coins. Unsplash
On June 12 crypto lender Celsius Network said it had paused customer withdrawals, saying it needed “to stabilise liquidity and operations”. Investors are still waiting, with no signs that the current meltdown will let up. Getty
The preponderance of centralised banks and corporations adding Bitcoin to their portfolio, not to mention offering crypto custody services to money managers, is significantly threatening the network’s decentralisation.
In this use case, centralised censorship is absolutely something to be resisted, and we can be thankful Bitcoin is hard-wired against it.
As the past year has shown, centralisation is not only anathema to the founding principles of the blockchain and cryptocurrency project but in this space, frankly dangerous.
Decentralisation is the only way to ensure the safe growth of a truly censorship-resistant, fully accessible financial ecosystem.
Bitcoin remains the flagship project of this mission, and we shouldn't let an NFT experiment detract from that, regardless of the sensational headlines it attracts.
What we can say in favour of the Ordinals NFT project is that it has brought anew wave of interest to Bitcoin, resulting in an enlarged average block size as more users join the network.
However, while this is a welcome development, we must not forget the founding principles of Bitcoin as a blockchain and currency that can resist censorship and manipulation by central and investment banks, which fiat currencies such as the US dollar cannot.
The future of finance may not be Bitcoin, but it must and will be decentralised and censorship-resistant.
Stefan Rust is the founder of Laguna Labs, a blockchain development house, and former chief executive of bitcoin.com
FlyDubai flies direct from Dubai to Skopje in five hours from Dh1,314 return including taxes. Hourly buses from Skopje to Ohrid take three hours.
The tours
English-speaking guided tours of Ohrid town and the surrounding area are organised by Cultura 365; these cost €90 (Dh386) for a one-day trip including driver and guide and €100 a day (Dh429) for two people.
The hotels
Villa St Sofija in the old town of Ohrid, twin room from $54 (Dh198) a night.
St Naum Monastery, on the lake 30km south of Ohrid town, has updated its pilgrims' quarters into a modern 3-star hotel, with rooms overlooking the monastery courtyard and lake. Double room from $60 (Dh 220) a night.
Marwan Lutfi says the core fundamentals that drive better payment behaviour and can improve your credit score are:
1. Make sure you make your payments on time;
2. Limit the number of products you borrow on: the more loans and credit cards you have, the more it will affect your credit score;
3. Don't max out all your debts: how much you maximise those credit facilities will have an impact. If you have five credit cards and utilise 90 per cent of that credit, it will negatively affect your score.
Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
Monday January 6 - UAE v Namibia
Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 - Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
1) Organ donors can register on the Hayat app, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention
2) There are about 11,000 patients in the country in need of organ transplants
3) People must be over 21. Emiratis and residents can register.
4) The campaign uses the hashtag #donate_hope
Duminy's Test career in numbers
Tests 46; Runs 2,103; Best 166; Average 32.85; 100s 6; 50s 8; Wickets 42; Best 4-47
Prop idols
Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.
Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)
An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.
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Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)
Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.
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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)
Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.
MATCH INFO
Syria v Australia
2018 World Cup qualifying: Asia fourth round play-off first leg
Venue: Hang Jebat Stadium (Malacca, Malayisa)
Kick-off: Thursday, 4.30pm (UAE)
Watch: beIN Sports HD
* Second leg in Australia scheduled for October 10
So what is Spicy Chickenjoy?
Just as McDonald’s has the Big Mac, Jollibee has Spicy Chickenjoy – a piece of fried chicken that’s crispy and spicy on the outside and comes with a side of spaghetti, all covered in tomato sauce and topped with sausage slices and ground beef. It sounds like a recipe that a child would come up with, but perhaps that’s the point – a flavourbomb combination of cheap comfort foods. Chickenjoy is Jollibee’s best-selling product in every country in which it has a presence.
THE 12 BREAKAWAY CLUBS
England
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur
Italy
AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus
Spain
Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
