Balaji: Blockchain immutability and programmability are fundamentally in conflict
Balaji Srinivasan · Weekend Special: Elon Recap, Balaji, Chris Dixon, Brian Armstrong, Crypto Day + Thiel Fellows · May 31, 2025 · at 20:23
Balaji Srinivasan explains to John Coogan why Bitcoin avoided adding complex features and smart contract programmability directly to its core base layer.
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“The problem is that like gold should be as immutable as possible and mutability is in conflict with, I mean, programmability is a good value and immutable is a good value, but those are like you know, fire and water. They don't mix, right? There's, you know, you want a drink of water and sometimes you want a hot fire to keep you warm, but you don't want them in the same thing. Then you get nothing, right?”
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