Miners quickly chose the more profitable version, the original Bitcoin. The new chain, which inherited Bitcoin’s massive mining difficulty, attracted only a tiny fraction of hashpower and produced just two blocks before grinding to a halt. Meanwhile, the original Bitcoin network continued uninterrupted, retaining virtually all activity, liquidity and security.

“Bitcoin worked exactly as designed,” Michael Saylor, the founder of BTC-holding company Strategy (MSTR), said on X.

Contrast that with the so-called free-market economies of the world. Falling corporate profitability should trigger cost-cutting and layoffs, but electoral politics often leads governments to block that adjustment, resulting in prolonged industrial sickness….