đŸ Merlinâs Path & Coinbase Validation
Grew from fair launch & inscriptions into BTCFi mainstream.
Coinbase perpetual listing confirms execution, compliance, and scale, not hype.
đ Ordinals & BRC-20 Reality Check
Ordinals werenât âdead,â they sparked experimentation, then attention moved on.
BRC-20 declined due to fee leakage, fragmentation, and no shared liquidity, not Runes.
đ¶ Bitcoin Ecosystem Gaps
Lacks coordination, leadership, and collaboration compared to ETH/Solana.
Too many isolated standards, too little ecosystem-level thinking.
Merlinâs Direction: Independent, Bitcoin-Native
Staying rooted in Bitcoin while building BTCFi, liquidity, and L2 bridges.
2026 focus: liquidity first, risk-managed BTCFi, quietly incubating AI for the right moment.
Merlinâs Journey Through This Cycle: From Fair Launch to BTCFi Mainstream
Jeff: Looking back, this cycle really started in 2023, when there was no clear new narrative, until inscriptions and fair launch took over. It wasnât just Bitcoin ordinals; we saw inscriptions everywhere, and fair launch became the core theme people cared about. During that phase, Merlin grew alongside multiple BTC-native experiments and products.
At the time, BTCFi was widely misunderstood, many thought it was unnecessary or even a scam, believing Bitcoin should just sit in wallets. But fast forward to today, BTCFi has moved into the mainstream. Institutions, governments, and major ecosystems are now discussing Bitcoin yield, bridging, and on-chain usage. Even large players are actively exploring it.
For me, the journey has been meaningful not just financially, but structurally, watching an idea go from ignored to inevitable. Itâs rewarding to reflect on what we got right, what we got wrong, and how the ecosystem itself evolved, sometimes in healthy ways, sometimes not, but always forward.
Are Ordinals Really âDeadâ?
Jeff: Looking back, the idea of âOrdinals are deadâ actually started very early, even before the hype peaked in 2023. I still have one of the very first inscriptions literally saying âOrdinals are deadâ in my wallet. Back then, despite low prices and skepticism, builders were everywhere. At the first Ordinals summit in Singapore, almost every core contributor showed up. We werenât talking about price, but about new ideas like recursive inscriptions, novel inscription formats, and long-term experiments. Many of those ideas only materialized after that moment.
Whatâs interesting is that today, itâs not that Ordinals collapsed overnight. Itâs that people stopped even arguing about whether theyâre dead. Attention moved on. For me, that silence says more than the debate ever did. Ordinals werenât just a hype cycle; they were a phase that sparked real experimentation. And like many early narratives in crypto, they didnât disappear, they evolved, fragmented, and made room for what came next.
BRC-20âs Decline and Why Bitcoin Failed to Form a Real Ecosystem
Jeff: I donât think BRC-20 would have survived regardless of Runes. This wasnât about Casey or any single decision. Every asset ecosystem goes through cycles, and 90% drawdowns are normal across crypto. BRC-20 had deeper structural issues.
First, the cost structure was fundamentally broken. Unlike EVM ecosystems where liquidity stays in pools, BRC-20 burned massive value into miner fees. That money didnât circulate; it disappeared. In my view, this alone drained long-term sustainability.
Second, Bitcoin lacks real collaboration. Builders focused on launching slightly different standards instead of working together. Everyone was minting new assets, not building shared liquidity, infrastructure, or composability. Thatâs not an ecosystem, thatâs fragmentation.
In Ethereum or Solana, different players specialize and cooperate. DEXs, wallets, bridges, NFTs, all reinforcing each other. Bitcoin didnât do that. Thereâs no foundation, no coordination layer, and too much politics. Builders chased short-term gains instead of long-term alignment.
So no, Runes didnât kill BRC-20. The real issue was structural inefficiency, value leakage, and the absence of collective ecosystem thinking. Until Bitcoin builders learn to work together, it will keep repeating the same cycle under new names.
The Leadership Vacuum in Bitcoinâs Ecosystem
Jeff: Yeah, I agree. The core issue with Bitcoin is responsibility. Unlike Ethereum or Solana, thereâs no founder figure or foundation to coordinate builders, and that creates a vacuum. When we built the Merlin ecosystem, I experienced this firsthand. Someone has to step up to organize roles, align incentives, and reduce destructive competition, even though itâs heavy, thankless work.
On Merlin, we didnât try to control everything. Instead, we helped strong teams grow, connected protocols after launch, and focused on collaboration rather than fragmentation. Thatâs why liquidity and momentum could actually compound. In Bitcoin, though, everyone was acting independently. Builders werenât talking to each other, liquidity was split, and politics often mattered more than progress.
Iâm not saying it had to be centralized, but someone needed to take coordination seriously, regular communication, shared goals, and ecosystem-level thinking. Without that, Bitcoin never really became an ecosystem. It became a collection of isolated projects competing for short-term gains.
Merlinâs Coinbase Milestone and What Real Leadership Looks Like
Jeff: The Coinbase perpetual listing wasnât luck. We applied in Q2 and went through months of deep review, covering regulation, custody, token mechanics, liquidity, volume, and team execution. Passing that process means MERL is now recognized as a major player like we already ranked CMC Top 100, and future integrations become structurally easier.
What matters to me is delivery. As a founder, you donât just make promises or act as a symbolic OG. You take responsibility and execute. Many projects hide behind âdecentralizationâ to avoid accountability, and thatâs how ecosystems fade. Weâve done the opposite: step by step, we delivered what we said we would.
As Merlin grows, more attention comes with it. Even routine things like monthly unlocks get amplified now, not because anything changed, but because weâre big enough to matter. Seeing MERL ranked alongside or above projects like Stacks, Starknet, and nearing OP, Jupiter, and PancakeSwap shows consistent execution compounds.
This is just one milestone, but it confirms the direction: build seriously, take responsibility, and let results speak.
Merlinâs Independent Path, While Staying Rooted in Bitcoin
Jeff: I see Merlin growing on its own path, but still deeply connected to Bitcoin. From the start, we believed in retail users, real communities, and BTC-native innovation, and that hasnât changed. Whether itâs Ordinals, Runes, or future Layer 1 and Layer 2 breakthroughs around Bitcoin assets, I continue to support them both personally and structurally.
We started from very early experiments, building recursive art and exploring new ideas when the ecosystem was still raw. Today, Merlin is more mature, but weâre still focused on bridging users, assets, and liquidity between Bitcoin and Layer 2 in a meaningful way. I donât think Bitcoin-native assets are âover.â Some may be quiet now, but revival is always possible if real builders and real users come back, not just short-term capital.
So yes, Merlin will always carry that Bitcoin DNA. Not out of nostalgia, but because Bitcoin assets are the strongest link between users, liquidity, and long-term on-chain adoption.
Merlinâs 2026 Strategy: Liquidity First, Build Through Cycles
Jeff: Looking ahead to 2026, my view is very grounded. Liquidity is the real issue right now, after the shocks in late 2025, capital across the market is tighter than most people expected, even for big traders and funds. That reality shapes everything we do next.
For Merlin, the focus is clear. We will continue building around BTCFi, but we wonât force narratives that arenât ready. If the flow isnât there, we adapt. Going with the market matters more than fighting it. At the same time, weâre quietly incubating and investing in new products, especially around AI, waiting for the right angle where real users and real volume can emerge.
The biggest lesson from this cycle is simple: stay practical. No empty slogans, no oversized promises. Just build, manage risk, and survive. If you survive, youâll be there when the next real bull run arrives.
