Neil Fitzhugh on why Bitcoin is built different

Bitcoin has long been seen as the conservative elder of the crypto world – secure, stable, and slow to change. Developers are now finding ways to extend Bitcoin’s functionality, adding features such as applications, automation, and even gaming while keeping its secure foundation intact.

“Bitcoin never really had this ability [for smart contracts], and TAP gives it that ability,” Neil Fitzhugh, Head of Marketing at TAP Protocol, told Guardians of Bitcoin. “So you can access Bitcoin, which represents trillions in value, and a lot of untapped potential we’re unlocking.”

Why Bitcoin has been limited

Unlike newer blockchain networks like Ethereum or Solana, Bitcoin was designed with security as the top priority, not flexibility.

“The OG chain is Bitcoin,” Fitzhugh said. “It’s under the hood just built different, right? For anybody that is technical in the audience, it’s a UTXO-based chain versus most others that are smart-contract-account-based models.”

This design makes Bitcoin slower, but that slowness is part of the bargain. “You have to wait 10 minutes, on average, for a transaction to go through, whereas if you wait for a transaction to go through for 10 minutes on Ethereum, you’d be furious,” Fitzhugh said. “People accept the slowness because of the level of security that it gives you.”

Attempts to add programmability to Bitcoin have often required users to hand over control of their assets. “There are many ways you can achieve Bitcoin programmability, but there’s always giving away of custody in this mix,” Fitzhugh said. “And so we knew that that’s not, in our opinion, going to scale.”

TAP Protocol’s model

Instead of moving Bitcoin to other networks, TAP Protocol adds smart contract functionality directly to the chain. Fitzhugh describes this as “layer one co-processing.”

"We just built our protocol on Bitcoin so that smart contracts can plug directly in," he said. "The Bitcoin assets move on the Bitcoin chess board rather than being taken off that board and into someone else’s custody.”

In simpler terms, it means your Bitcoin never leaves the safety of the main network. Other solutions often ask users to hand their coins to a third party before they can interact with apps – a risky process that introduces trust in middlemen. TAP’s model lets developers bring apps to Bitcoin itself, so assets remain under user control at all times.

“The protocol is built with this in mind – it follows the principles, the guidelines that Satoshi set out,” Fitzhugh said.

TAP Protocol keeps Bitcoin’s 'pieces' on the board, enabling smart contracts without moving assets off-chain. Photo: Unsplash / Hassan Pasha

Opening Bitcoin to users

Creating programmable money is one step; making it approachable for everyday users is another. TAP Protocol extends into artificial intelligence, allowing people to automate trades in plain language. Instead of writing code, users can type instructions such as telling the system to buy or sell when a token hits a certain price – and an AI agent executes the order on their behalf.

The key, Fitzhugh stressed, is decentralization. “It has to be decentralized if you want it to be secure,” he said. “If you’re building AI on Bitcoin, why would you build on the most decentralized chain if you can’t guarantee that it’s a decentralized agent that you’re handing over your keys to?”

For those just starting out, TAP also offers a Telegram bot that makes token creation simple. “It requires zero coding. On Telegram, you install the bot, you forward slash it, choose what you want to do. It walks you through step by step,” Fitzhugh explained. “You actually wouldn’t need to be any level of web3 literate. It really is that simple.”

He added: “If you run a Telegram with your community, they can also mint directly from Telegram.”

New frontiers: gaming and speed

Beyond finance and AI, TAP Protocol is opening up space for entertainment and virtual worlds. Fitzhugh described a project called Foxy verse, which is “a shoot-'em-up RPG – role playing game – where you run around, shoot people, collect things.”

Another experiment links Bitcoin’s block production to virtual land ownership. “Every 10 minutes, clunk, a new piece of land. 10 minutes clunk, new piece of land,” Fitzhugh said. The rhythm of Bitcoin itself becomes the mechanism that expands the virtual world.

For applications that demand speed, TAP connects with Trac Systems, which provides instant processing while still anchoring to Bitcoin. “Most of the market, I would say, at this point, still values much faster processing, much faster reps,” Fitzhugh said.

Beyond token hype

TAP’s ambitions also come with a rejection of crypto’s hype-driven culture. “People lead with the token, right?” Fitzhugh said. “But the problem with leading always and amplifying always a token price is the token isn’t really the product.”

Fitzhugh’s own journey underscores his conviction. “In 2017, I joined the Bitcoin holding community,” he said, “And it wasn’t until 2020, when I fully went down the rabbit hole… that I started to fully start to understand some of the tech.

"I’ve been working full time around three years, and I’ve been working 12 months for this company, but a Bitcoin company, for me is like a dream.”

Looking ahead, he sees momentum only accelerating. “Just over two years ago, you could barely even get a JPEG on [the Bitcoin blockchain] without huge difficulties. It is wildly exponentially growing and speeding up,” he said.

“If you want to build something on Bitcoin and you want it to be fully decentralized with access to native assets, and your users don’t need to have any assets sent across a bridge… the only place you can have all of those components is TAP protocol,” Fitzhugh said.