Bitcoin is just not “crypto”
An X put up from Jack Dorsey revived an previous query: Is Bitcoin a part of “crypto” or a class of its personal?
On Oct. 19, 2025, Jack Dorsey posted three phrases on X: “bitcoin is just not crypto.” The put up rapidly drew consideration throughout the platform and in media protection. It mirrored a view he has lengthy maintained, that Bitcoin must be considered cash with its personal guidelines and historical past, not included within the broader token market.
Dorsey argues that Bitcoin (BTC) belongs in a separate class. It was launched and not using a basis or premine and is ruled conservatively. The community is designed for funds and financial savings, in contrast to good contract platforms and app tokens that evolve rapidly and serve a number of use instances.
Let’s unpack the argument.
To grasp why, it helps to take a look at how Bitcoin’s design, governance and regulation differ from the remainder of the crypto world.
Do you know? El Salvador grew to become the primary nation to undertake Bitcoin as authorized tender. The regulation was handed on June 9, 2021, and took impact on Sept. 7, 2021.
Financial coverage and issuance: Fastened guidelines vs. versatile coverage
Beginning with provide, Bitcoin’s issuance follows a set schedule, whereas most different networks deal with provide as a tunable characteristic.
New cash are issued as block rewards, which halve roughly each 210,000 blocks till the whole provide reaches 21 million BTC. The fourth halving occurred at block 840,000 in April 2024, lowering the reward from 6.25 BTC to three.125 BTC. Every discount makes miners rely extra on transaction charges and fewer on new issuance.
Altering Bitcoin’s issuance would require overwhelming social consensus amongst customers operating nodes, permitting buyers to mannequin provide years prematurely. That predictability stays a core a part of its “store-of-value” enchantment.
Most different networks strategy financial coverage as a design selection. Take Ethereum, for instance: Ethereum Enchancment Proposal (EIP) 1559 launched a base-fee burn that reduces web issuance when demand is excessive, and the Merge replace shifted the community to proof-of-stake (PoS), reducing gross issuance. Collectively, these adjustments create a provide mannequin that adjusts dynamically with community exercise.
That flexibility can improve the consumer expertise and allow new options, whereas Bitcoin’s rigidity is supposed to protect financial credibility.
Consensus and safety budgets: PoW minimalism vs. PoS improve velocity
How a blockchain secures itself shapes every thing that follows. Bitcoin pays for safety with work, whereas proof-of-stake (PoS) techniques pay with stake.
On Bitcoin, miners use power so as to add blocks, and full nodes implement a small, conservative algorithm. Its scripting language is deliberately easy and never Turing-complete. Fewer transferring elements imply fewer possibilities for issues to interrupt, which is why base-layer adjustments are uncommon and thoroughly restricted.
Because the block reward continues to halve, miner income step by step shifts from new cash to transaction charges — Bitcoin’s long-term “safety funds.” That raises necessary questions for the longer term, similar to how incentives will maintain up throughout low-fee intervals. It additionally exhibits why surges in exercise that push charges greater, together with regular utilization on layers like Lightning Community, matter for miner economics.
Many crypto platforms, most notably Ethereum, use PoS. Validators lock up Ether (ETH), earn rewards for proposing and testifying to blocks and may be penalized for misbehavior. This mannequin has allowed faster upgrades: The Merge in 2022 switched to PoS, Shapella (2023) enabled withdrawals and EIP-4844 (2024) diminished information prices for rollups.
Bitcoin prioritizes safety, stability and minimal change at its base layer, whereas most PoS networks emphasize quicker upgrades and better throughput.
Do you know? A 2010 bug briefly created 184 billion BTC earlier than the chain was rolled again in a 53-block reorganization. The “worth overflow” incident stays Bitcoin’s largest reorg. The second-largest occurred in 2013 throughout a software program incompatibility between variations 0.7 and 0.8 and spanned 24 blocks.
Governance and tradition: “Ossify vs. optimize” in follow
Who adjustments the foundations, how rapidly and the way safely? Bitcoin evolves slowly by design, whereas app-focused chains prioritize velocity and adaptability.
Bitcoin adjustments slowly by design. Proposals start as Bitcoin Enchancment Proposals, bear public argument and solely proceed when builders, miners and node operators broadly sign assist. There isn’t a onchain vote or basis directing choices. Upgrades are usually shipped as comfortable forks, preserving compatibility for older nodes.
The Taproot improve used the “Speedy Trial” signalling mechanism in 2021, reaching lock-in in June and activating at block 709,632 on Nov. 14, 2021. The drawn-out course of gave builders, miners and node operators time to coordinate and cut back activation threat. That cadence (few adjustments, plenty of deliberation) is what individuals imply by Bitcoin “ossifying.”
Sensible contract platforms take the other strategy. Ethereum introduces adjustments by way of the EIP course of, following a gentle launch cycle — e.g., post-Merge withdrawals and proto-danksharding to scale back information prices.
Totally different intention, totally different tempo: Bitcoin protects financial credibility by way of conservative edits, whereas app-focused chains emphasize delivering new options and sustaining developer exercise.
Do you know? A major share of BTC could also be misplaced endlessly. Chainalysis-based estimates recommend roughly 2.3 million-3.7 million BTC is completely misplaced — a double-digit proportion of the 21 million provide cap.
What runs on prime: Funds vs. general-purpose apps
Bitcoin retains the bottom layer small: unspent transaction output (UTXO) accounting, a restricted stack-based script (deliberately not Turing-complete) and comparatively modest logic past that.
A lot of Bitcoin’s fee exercise is transferring to second-layer networks such because the Lightning Community. It makes use of bidirectional channels and Hash Time Locked Contracts (HTLCs) to route prompt, low-fee funds with out altering base-layer guidelines. On a regular basis transactions occur offchain, whereas settlement stays anchored to the principle community.
Sensible contract platforms take the other strategy. Ethereum helps wealthy, stateful contracts on its layer 1 and encourages composability — decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and onchain video games constructing on prime of each other. This strategy allows quicker experimentation however relies on a versatile, recurrently upgraded base layer.
Bitcoin nonetheless experiments on the edges. The launch of Ordinals and Runes across the 2024 halving pushed charges to report highs, boosting miner income and offering a real-world take a look at of fee-driven safety. Crucially, none of it modified Bitcoin’s financial guidelines or minimalist layer-1 design. The sample holds: Maintain the bottom steady and let new exercise develop on prime or alongside.
Market construction and what it means: BTC’s separate bucket
Change-traded funds (ETFs), choices and stream information recommend that establishments deal with Bitcoin in another way from the remainder of the crypto market.
On Jan. 10, 2024, the US Securities and Change Fee authorised rule adjustments permitting exchanges to listing and commerce spot Bitcoin exchange-traded merchandise (ETPs). The choice introduced BTC to mainstream venues, together with the New York Inventory Change (NYSE) Arca, Nasdaq and the Chicago Board Choices Change (Cboe).
These are the identical platforms utilized by brokerages, registered funding advisers (RIAs) and pension funds. No matter you name the asset class, retirement and wealth platforms now have a devoted lane for Bitcoin.
Market infrastructure expanded from there. By late 2024, US regulators had authorised choices on spot Bitcoin ETFs and Cboe launched index choices tied to a basket of these funds. In brief, it’s threat switch and worth discovery utilizing instruments that establishments already perceive — one thing most tokens nonetheless lack.
The stream information made that shift clear. All through 2024 and 2025, creations and redemptions within the new funds grew to become a every day fixture, with dashboards monitoring property and web flows. Buyers have been gaining Bitcoin publicity by way of conventional wrappers quite than crypto-native venues.
Coverage alerts level in the identical route. US derivatives regulators have lengthy categorized Bitcoin as a commodity. In 2025, employees from the US SEC and the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee famous that registered exchanges might facilitate buying and selling in sure spot commodity crypto merchandise.
Taken collectively, the distribution channels, hedging instruments, stream reporting and regulatory labels make a powerful case for Jack’s “bitcoin is just not crypto” argument. Markets have already put it in a separate bucket.
