Bitcoin just had it’s biggest update in 4 years and it went flawlessly. Over the weekend Bitcoin implemented an update to the code base called Taproot which will allow greater scripting capabilities within transactions. This allows Bitcoin the ability to enhance privacy, improve multi-signature wallet use, and allow for smart contract implementations. I do not excel in the code and technical side of Bitcoin, so I am not going to dig much deeper into this. If it confuses you at all I wouldn’t worry much, but being aware of what is happening is always a good thing. If you are rather interested though there are a lot of resources on the web. Start by checking out Bitcoin.org for some direction. A great book for the technical side of Bitcoin is Mastering Bitcoin by Andreas M. Antonopoulos.
Bitcoin
We have Bitcoin which is this slow methodical base layer money that doesn’t change often and is highly optimized for security. Bitcoiners argue that security above all else is the absolute most important thing when talking about money. The other technicals can then be worked on to improve speed, privacy, and optionality. So far in Bitcoins 13 years of existence it hasn’t had a single fraudulent transaction and you can thank its robust security for that. Taproot is going to enable the use of smart contracts within Bitcoin which is a huge step forward. A smart contract in the coding world is simply a contract that executes automatically once 2 or more parameters are met. This allows funds to be locked up between parties and released once each side has satisfied its end of the agreement or contract. It is done automatically making it a smart contract.
Alt Coins
Alt coins often referred to as “shit coins” are all the other cryptocurrencies that exist. They optimize for innovation and therefore give up security in the process. They do not compete with Bitcoin as a money. They act as more of a company since most of them have a team/creator that is known which gives them a central point of failure. They take on the phrase, “move fast and break things.” This is not a feature you would want in your money, but it is what they use to claim why they are better than Bitcoin. You may hear that a certain coin is faster or more private and you are usually fed some future image of a what it will enable within the world. Anything that proves truly worthwhile can be adopted into the Bitcoin code.
Just keep stacking those sats and protecting your time, wealth, and purchasing power!