Bitcoin’s launch in 2009 created a resilient and decentralized monetary asset. Early advocates gathered around it into a bizarre innovation – immutable, fixed supply and leaderless. Over time, this merged it into a belief system: Bitcoin’s greatestism. The argument is simple. Bitcoin is the first one. It has the greatest proof of work security. The most conservative monetary policy. All other assets are interference or return.
However, this framework is becoming increasingly different from the application of Bitcoin in practice now.
Interoperability becomes the new norm
Today, crypto ecosystems are no longer a collection of isolated islands, or at least not needed. Interoperability is the backbone of Web3. Techniques that Maximumists once refuted, such as parcel Bitcoin and cross-chain bridges, now reveal the limitations of this worldview. While these technologies are far from perfect, they prove that users want more than just ideology purity. They want practicality and functionality. This evolution is particularly important for Bitcoin, which has historically been limited by its transaction speed and lack of smart contract capabilities.
The watershed is due to the emergence and explosive growth of Defi, providing opportunities for raising farming, lending and trading, while Bitcoin (at least in its local form) cannot be directly involved (most of the early Defi activities focused on Ethereum).
To bridge this gap, solutions such as parcel Bitcoin (WBTC) were conceived and introduced, and BTC was used for Ethereum and other chains. While this is a step forward, the tokens wrapped carry related risks such as centralized custodians, potential security breaches, and overall deviation from Bitcoin’s untrustworthy spirit.
New system, including The tunnel with least trust The consensus proof of Bitcoin anchoring enables BTC to be integrated into a smart contract environment without damaging its core attributes. These architectures avoid packaging needs. Instead, they see Bitcoin as a basic external settlement layer that can interact directly with the blockchain ecosystem through tunnels and professional Bitcoin virtual machines.
The result is simple: Bitcoin is no longer isolated. And it is no longer needed.
Maximumism and infrastructure
Bitcoin’s maximism asserts that BTC alone is enough. But the infrastructure deployed throughout the ecosystem now proves this. BTC is used for DEFI. BTC supports NFT standards. BTC is moving across chains. It is doing this without compromising its consensus layer or currency characteristics.
The future of encryption is collaboration, not isolation. The blockchain infrastructure will be shaped by interoperability and modular design. Bitcoin doesn’t have to compete for an advantage in this ecosystem. Instead, it can complement and ensure a wider multi-chain ecosystem. As developers build bridges between chains rather than walls, they prove that Bitcoin can coexist with other networks, enhancing its utility rather than competing for an advantage. In this environment, the supreme idea of “one dominates all these coins” has lost its connection.
Regular crypto users want flexibility and different options to leverage, borrow or trade their assets on multiple platforms, interoperability can be achieved – unlike the Bitcoin maximism that limits all out-of-the-box use cases. As the multi-chain ecosystem matures, users are increasingly attracting infrastructures that support cross-chain utilities, including secure integration of BTC.
Finally, Bitcoin’s greatestism has always been primarily rooted in ideology – but the crypto industry is driven by innovation, and new technologies have proven that BTC can evolve without losing its importance or advantage. In this way, if these advancements are considered “distractions”, the maximum valueists may be left behind.
The core of multi-chain stack
Bitcoin continues to act as the safest and most patient settlement network in the world. That has not changed. What is changing is the surrounding environment. The decentralized system is becoming more and more interactive. The expectation that the network will remain quarantined is no longer feasible.
BTC is becoming the core layer in a multi-chain stack and is more integrated into systems that were once separated from it.
If Bitcoin’s maximism provides clarity during the early growth phases of crypto, the ecosystem develops. Today, Bitcoin can serve as a cornerstone of a wider system, emphasizing security, interconnectivity and synthesis.
As this trend continues to boost momentum, Bitcoin’s greatestism may disappear, as the idea that a coin must dominate all other coins ignores the power of collaboration and innovation. Interoperability is not a threat to Bitcoin – it is a catalyst for growth. The future of crypto is not about choosing a single winner, but about building a decentralized world where every chain, including Bitcoin, plays a crucial role.
A decentralized future will rely on secure, interoperable and modular systems. Bitcoin’s role as a resilient base layer ensures that it will always be an integral part of that future, rather than the only chain, but the fundamental cornerstone.
