Faced with the threat of ossification, Bitcoin Core should adopt BIP 300 and 301 and integrate drivechain solutions for continued security.
This is Samuel Greenberg’s op-ed, who believes Bitcoin is the best hope we have to achieve a just world and pass it on to the next generation.
At some point, less than a decade from now, block subsidies below 1 bitcoin — and continues its decay with each subsequent half-life. This means that network security will increasingly depend solely on transaction fees.
In the same period, we should expect the world’s powerful fiat currency institutions to come to a keen realization of how serious a threat Bitcoin is to their hegemony. If transaction fees are insufficient to sustain widely distributed miner activity, there may be opportunities for powerful institutions to control hash rates enough to attack the network. As a community, we must take this threat seriously and resist complacency with the idea that Bitcoin’s success is predetermined and requires no further effort.
Since the blocksize wars ended in 2017, network improvements have been extremely difficult to implement due to the exact obsession with main chain security. Given its importance, the skepticism of proposed improvements to Bitcoin Core’s code is reasonable and desirable. That said, resisting all proposals in the name of the precautionary principle is counterproductive if proposals fail. To contribute for network security. Developers should act as administrators who aim to perfect the network, not gatekeepers who keep it to a standstill.
Challenges Bitcoin will soon face
Bitcoin, like any protocol, will ossify at some point, but there are two key issues that need to be resolved before it completely freezes. The first is the uncertainty of whether transaction fees are sufficient. Protect your network Block subsidies decrease over time. The second, and indirectly related to the first, is that developers have no place to innovate in a convenient and toll-incurring feature of the network without permission and in a safe manner.
The miner ecosystem must be robust and widely distributed to ensure the continued security of the network. Miners have an obligation to seek attractive energy sources, carefully plan capital, and maintain operational excellence. Unfortunately, if the available revenue is simply not enough, all the best his practices in the world will not be enough and the miner will be forced to shut down and sell his ASIC.
The total revenue earned by all miners through all their activities (transaction fees, block subsidies, etc.) over a period of time, or Bitcoin’s “security budget,” is driven primarily by exponentially decaying block subsidies. It’s been done. We, as a community, have a responsibility to strengthen the network’s security budget by finding new ways to generate revenue from transaction fees, maximizing the value of Bitcoin in general, and finding new uses for miners. there is. A network’s value and security are directly related to that network. how to useSo the solution is to use more Bitcoin.
We need to balance the affordability of transactions on the main chain with the need for a consistent and reliable fee market to keep the network from being attacked. The transaction fees generated from Bitcoin’s utility as a currency alone can be a volatile source of income. This approach (now mainstream) could ultimately require users to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for each individual transaction contained in a block, making Bitcoin’s usefulness as a currency sexuality may be compromised.
Our most reliable measure is ease of use bitcoin network To enable A community to develop as many useful tools and applications as possible (all with transaction fees). Drivechain is the potential to protect the Bitcoin network with unauthorized innovations. As mentioned, innovation is currently stifled because developers are cautious and conservative when considering improvements to the main chain network. Moreover, there are no procedures for integrating new ideas. Proponents often have to work for years to gather social momentum by persuading individuals one by one. This is a disastrous and unproductive use of energy.
Crucially, this forces actual paying users to wait patiently for the developer priest to bless the desired feature or look elsewhere. This is a gross misalignment.no group should be determined befitting of use. If you believe in a free market, not only for currency, but also for ideas and visions, then you should trust the market to freely decide what is useful.
Introduction of Drive Chain
2015, Paul Stoke Proposed BIP 300 and 301 (or “Drivechain”), outlines a protocol upgrade that allows developers to innovate on top of the Bitcoin protocol stack without permission. (enforced by BIP 300 “hashrate escrow”) to allow bitcoins to be deposited and withdrawn from sidechains. Miners can collect all transaction fees from each of these sidechains in the form of Bitcoin he transaction fees without the need to run additional node software (outlined in BIP 301, “Blind Merge Mining” ).
A soft fork is required for the drivechain, establishing a clear mechanism for safely incorporating innovations into the network on the sidechain (“second layer”), but leaving the current functionality of the main chain unchanged. . Bitcoin users can choose to completely ignore any sidechain. However, unlimited feature development for users can be deployed on them, all of which could contribute to Bitcoin’s fee for network security.
This additional utility of the Bitcoin network enabled by Drivechain captures value in two ways. First, since sidechains are only accessible by depositing bitcoin at face value and can always be redeemed at face value, the existence of sidechains creates a new source of demand, creating a price appreciation against the dollar. second, attracting dollars from competing blockchains to bitcoin makes it more expensive than other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin is the money you need to access and use an infinite number of sidechains. In this way, Drivechain expands the area where Bitcoin is needed as money.
Responding to Criticism of Drive Chains
![](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/.image/c_fit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_620/MTk1NzYyNzQ5ODk5Mjg2MTY0/drivechain-political-cartoon.jpg)
The Bitcoin community should not tolerate competing projects. All good ideas from all other projects should be integrated into the Bitcoin network. We need to have privacy coins, smart contract coins, and any other coin anyone can dream of.
Since sidechains are not a get-rich-quick scheme (via pre-mining, then a pump-and-dump model), they are the forerunners of true open source coordination. Users can provide great ideas for someone else to build on without worrying about missing out on benefits. All valid solutions compete for user attention based solely on their usefulness and ease of use. The use of projects built on sidechains benefits everyone holding bitcoin (proportional to the scale of use on the sidechain).
There are some common criticisms that the community has asked Drivechain proponents to address. The most common claim is that miners can steal from sidechains.but let us examination Since these sidechains are a source of income for miners, there is little incentive for miners to destroy them. Furthermore, since all sidechain use is voluntary, users choose to deposit their bitcoins at the theoretical risk.
Some important context is that due to the underlying code of BIP 300, an attack on a sidechain would take 6 months if at least 51% of miners colluded. The attack has to take place in broad daylight, the network can react at any moment to defend itself, and only his 2% of miners have to break out (directing hashrate to other pools by). There are some precedents for this.For example, when the Poolin mining pool suspended withdrawals in September 2022, its hashrate dropped It went from over 10% to less than 2% in a few days. The network can protect itself from mining pool fraud.
Other common criticisms amount to dismissals such as “don’t worry about the charges” or “the network is fine as is”. Both of these attitudes are epistemologically overconfident — we have no way of knowing what the future holds, and the survival of Bitcoin is too important to give up hope. , the sidechain transaction fees will increase and only serve to further secure the network.
Bitcoin represents the normative good for humanity now and in the future. Like the internet decades ago, it is impossible to imagine the benefits that this technology will bring, and we must always strive to nurture and protect it. The drive chain is relatively small, a light touch, and acts as a reversible change that unlocks great potential. Humanity has always solved problems through innovation. We want Bitcoin to become a more useful tool, applicable to a wider range of problems, all of which secure the use of the core as money.
It takes a lot of courage and effort to integrate Drivechain into Bitcoin Core. But we can be part of the consensus effort.we can educate We advocate for ourselves and within our circles. We can show our support and make our voices heard.
This is a guest post by Samuel Greenberg. Opinions expressed are entirely his own and do not necessarily reflect those of his BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.