This is a guest post by Samuel Greenberg. This is an opinion editorial by Samuel Greenberg, who believes that Bitcoin is the best hope we have to achieve a just world and pass it to the next generation.
WHY
WHRIVECHAIN IS OUR BEST CHANCE TO SECURE BITCOIN INTO THE FUTURE
ADDRESSING DRIVECHAIN CRITICISM
Source: Author
The Bitcoin community should not tolerate rivalrous projects. We should integrate every good idea from all other projects into the Bitcoin network. We should have privacy coins, and smart-contracting coins and any other coins that someone can dream of.
As sidechains are not vehicles for get-rich-quick (via pre-mine, then pump-and-dump models), they usher in true open-source coordination; users can give away great ideas for someone else to build, without concerns of missing the upside. All valid solutions would compete for the attention of the users based solely on their utility and usability. Any usage of any project built on a sidechain would benefit everyone who held bitcoin (commensurate with the scale of usage on the sidechain).
There are several common criticisms that the community asks Drivechain advocates to address, the most common being a claim that “miners can steal from sidechains.” But let us consider that these sidechains would be revenue sources for the miners, so there is little incentive for miners to destroy them. Additionally, all usage of sidechains is voluntary, so users choose to deposit their bitcoin knowing there is a theoretical risk.
Some important context is that, because of the code underlying BIP 300, an attack on a sidechain would take six months if a minimum of 51% of miners were to collude. The attack must occur in broad daylight, and at any time the network can react to defend itself, needing only 2% of miners to defect (by pointing their hash rates to other pools). There is some precedent for this, for example, in September of 2022 when the Poolin mining pool suspended withdrawals, its hash rate dropped from more than 10% to less than 2% in a matter of days — the network is capable of defending itself from mining pool misconduct.
Other common criticisms amount to dismissals like, “We have nothing to worry about with regards to the fees'' or that “The network is just 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 leave to hope. If it is the case that main chain transaction fees are indeed sufficient, then sidechain transaction fees are accretive and only work to further secure the network.
Bitcoin represents a normative good for humanity — now and into the future. Like the internet decades ago, it is impossible to imagine the good that will come from this technology, and we should at all times seek to nurture and defend it. Drivechain is a relatively small, light touch, and serves as a reversible change that unlocks tremendous latent potential. Humanity has always solved its problems through innovation. We should want Bitcoin to become a more useful tool, capable of being applied to a more broad set of problems, all securing its core use as money.
It will require great courage and effort to establish consensus for Drivechain to be merged into Bitcoin Core. But we can become a part of the consensus-build effort. We can educate ourselves and advocate within our circles. We can signal our support and make our voices heard.
This is a guest post by Samuel Greenberg. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
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