Is Blockstream's Liquid Network an Attempt to Compete for Tokens with Ethereum?

gepubliceerd op by Cointele | gepubliceerd op

At Consensus Distributed on May 12, Blockstream presented Lightnite, a Fortnite-like game that uses the Liquid Network for storing non-fungible tokens representing game items.

While the game is developed by independent company Satoshi's Games, Blockstream has sponsored the game by running a token giveaway.

The announcement has garnered a considerable amount of criticism from Ethereum fans, given the longstanding rivalry with the Bitcoin "Maximalists." Non-fungible tokens are traditionally associated with Ethereum and other smart contract blockchains, and received constant criticism from Bitcoin community members as part of that association.

"Narrative shift alert: we're going from 'things like NFTs are dumb and useless' to 'Bitcoin can do things like NFTs.".

Not all Bitcoin community members welcomed the Liquid NFTs, with notable Ethereum critic Udi Wertheimer commenting that "Nobody wants NFTs.".

It holds custody of the BTC used for the Liquid bridge, and Blockstream maintains multisig recovery keys for emergency situations.

Ethereum itself can also be considered a Bitcoin sidechain with the introduction of wrapped BTC tokens.

Liquid is designed to remove the burden of inter-exchange transactions from the Bitcoin network, which are "Perhaps even the majority" of its activity, Woodfine said, adding that a dynamic federation is also planned soon.

When asked why the tokens could not be issued on Bitcoin, he replied that existing protocols are too poorly maintained and difficult to use, in addition to the mainnet's congestion issues.

This suggests that the company does indeed see tokens as an important part of its business, though not necessarily NFTs.Can Liquid be a good platform for NFTs?Kain Warwick, founder of Synthetix, told Cointelegraph that he believes "Tokens on Liquid make very little sense."

x