Bitcoin is not “crypto”
An X post from Jack Dorsey restored an old concern: Is Bitcoin part of “crypto” or a classification of its own?
On Oct. 19, 2025, Jack Dorsey published 3 words on X: “bitcoin is not crypto.” The post rapidly drew attention throughout the platform and in media protection. It showed a view he has actually long preserved, that Bitcoin ought to be considered cash with its own guidelines and history, not consisted of in the more comprehensive token market.
Dorsey argues that Bitcoin (BTC) belongs in a different classification. It was introduced without a structure or premine and is governed conservatively. The network is created for payments and cost savings, unlike wise agreement platforms and app tokens that progress rapidly and serve numerous usage cases.
Let’s unload the argument.
To comprehend why, it assists to take a look at how Bitcoin’s style, governance and policy vary from the remainder of the crypto world.
Did you understand? El Salvador ended up being the very first nation to embrace Bitcoin as legal tender. The law was handed down June 9, 2021, and worked on Sept. 7, 2021.
Monetary policy and issuance: Repaired guidelines vs. versatile policy
Beginning with supply, Bitcoin’s issuance follows a set schedule, while a lot of other networks deal with supply as a tunable function.
New coins are released as block benefits, which cut in half approximately every 210,000 blocks up until the overall supply reaches 21 million BTC. The 4th halving happened at block 840,000 in April 2024, lowering the benefit from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. Each decrease makes miners depend more on deal charges and less on brand-new issuance.
Altering Bitcoin’s issuance would need frustrating social agreement amongst users running nodes, enabling financiers to design supply years beforehand. That predictability stays a core part of its “store-of-value” appeal.
A lot of other networks approach financial policy as a style option. Take Ethereum, for instance: Ethereum Enhancement Proposition (EIP) 1559 presented a base-fee burn that lowers net issuance when need is high, and the Merge upgrade moved the network to proof-of-stake (PoS), decreasing gross issuance. Together, these modifications develop a supply design that changes dynamically with network activity.
That versatility can boost the user experience and make it possible for brand-new functions, while Bitcoin’s rigidness is suggested to protect financial reliability.
Agreement and security spending plans: PoW minimalism vs. PoS upgrade speed
How a blockchain protects itself forms whatever that follows. Bitcoin spends for security with work, while proof-of-stake (PoS) systems pay with stake.
On Bitcoin, miners utilize energy to include blocks, and complete nodes impose a little, conservative set of guidelines. Its scripting language is purposefully easy and not Turing-complete. Less moving parts suggest less possibilities for things to break, which is why base-layer modifications are unusual and thoroughly restricted.
As the block benefit continues to cut in half, miner earnings slowly moves from brand-new coins to deal charges– Bitcoin’s long-lasting “security spending plan.” That raises crucial concerns for the future, such as how rewards will hold up throughout low-fee durations. It likewise reveals why rises in activity that press charges greater, together with stable use on layers like Lightning Network, matter for miner economics.
Numerous crypto platforms, most especially Ethereum, utilize PoS. Validators secure Ether (ETH), make benefits for proposing and vouching for blocks and can be punished for wrongdoing. This design has actually enabled quicker upgrades: The Merge in 2022 changed to PoS, Shapella (2023) made it possible for withdrawals and EIP-4844 (2024) minimized information expenses for rollups.
Bitcoin focuses on security, stability and very little modification at its base layer, while a lot of PoS networks highlight quicker upgrades and greater throughput.
Did you understand? A 2010 bug briefly produced 184 billion BTC before the chain was rolled back in a 53-block reorganization. The “worth overflow” event stays Bitcoin’s biggest reorg. The second-largest happened in 2013 throughout a software application incompatibility in between variations 0.7 and 0.8 and covered 24 blocks.
Governance and culture: “Ossify vs. enhance” in practice
Who alters the guidelines, how rapidly and how securely? Bitcoin develops gradually by style, while app-focused chains focus on speed and versatility.
Bitcoin modifications gradually by style. Propositions start as Bitcoin Enhancement Proposals, go through public argument and just continue when designers, miners and node operators broadly signal assistance. There is no onchain vote or structure directing choices. Upgrades are generally delivered as soft forks, maintaining compatibility for older nodes.
The Taproot upgrade utilized the “Fast Trial” signalling system in 2021, attaining lock-in in June and triggering at block 709,632 on Nov. 14, 2021. The dragged out procedure provided designers, miners and node operators time to collaborate and minimize activation danger. That cadence (couple of modifications, great deals of consideration) is what individuals suggest by Bitcoin “ossifying.”
Smart agreement platforms take the opposite technique. Ethereum presents modifications through the EIP procedure, following a constant release cycle– e.g., post-Merge withdrawals and proto-danksharding to minimize information expenses.
Various objective, various pace: Bitcoin secures financial reliability through conservative edits, while app-focused chains highlight providing brand-new functions and keeping designer activity.
Did you understand? A considerable share of BTC might be lost permanently. Chainalysis-based price quotes recommend approximately 2.3 million-3.7 million BTC is completely lost– a double-digit portion of the 21 million supply cap.
What works on top: Payments vs. general-purpose apps
Bitcoin keeps the base layer little: unspent deal output (UTXO) accounting, a restricted stack-based script (purposefully not Turing-complete) and reasonably modest reasoning beyond that.
Much of Bitcoin’s payment activity is transferring to second-layer networks such as the Lightning Network. It utilizes bidirectional channels and Hash Time Locked Agreements (HTLCs) to path immediate, low-fee payments without altering base-layer guidelines. Daily deals take place offchain, while settlement stays anchored to the primary network.
Smart agreement platforms take the opposite technique. Ethereum supports abundant, stateful agreements on its layer 1 and motivates composability– decentralized financing (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and onchain video games developing on top of one another. This technique makes it possible for quicker experimentation however depends upon a versatile, routinely updated base layer.
Bitcoin still experiments at the edges. The launch of Ordinals and Runes around the 2024 halving pressed charges to tape-record highs, enhancing miner earnings and offering a real-world test of fee-driven security. Most importantly, none of it altered Bitcoin’s financial guidelines or minimalist layer-1 style. The pattern holds: Keep the base steady and let brand-new activity grow on the top or along with.
Market structure and what it indicates: BTC’s different pail
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs), choices and circulation information recommend that organizations deal with Bitcoin in a different way from the remainder of the crypto market.
On Jan. 10, 2024, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission authorized guideline modifications enabling exchanges to list and trade area Bitcoin exchange-traded items (ETPs). The choice brought BTC to mainstream locations, consisting of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Arca, Nasdaq and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe).
These are the very same platforms utilized by brokerages, signed up financial investment consultants (RIAs) and pension funds. Whatever you call the property class, retirement and wealth platforms now have a devoted lane for Bitcoin.
Market facilities broadened from there. By late 2024, United States regulators had actually authorized choices on area Bitcoin ETFs and Cboe introduced index choices connected to a basket of those funds. In other words, it’s danger transfer and cost discovery utilizing tools that organizations currently comprehend– something most tokens still do not have.
The circulation information made that shift clear. Throughout 2024 and 2025, developments and redemptions in the brand-new funds ended up being an everyday component, with control panels tracking properties and net circulations. Financiers were acquiring Bitcoin direct exposure through conventional wrappers instead of crypto-native locations.
Policy signals point in the very same instructions. United States derivatives regulators have actually long categorized Bitcoin as a product. In 2025, personnel from the United States SEC and the Product Futures Trading Commission kept in mind that signed up exchanges might help with trading in specific area product crypto items.
Taken together, the circulation channels, hedging tools, circulation reporting and regulative labels make a strong case for Jack’s “bitcoin is not crypto” argument. Markets have currently put it in a different pail.
Source: Coin Telegraph.
