Author: Peter Vessenes 2012-04-03 20:04:19
Published on: 2012-04-03T20:04:19+00:00
In a discussion about adding PGP's web of trust to Bitcoin, Peter argues that it is not minimally invasive and instead suggests adding simplicity to the protocol design. He believes that bulk up the protocol too rapidly right now would be a mistake as we know almost nothing about how bitcoin will be used over the next 20 years. He compares this to Lotus' engineering process, where the focus was on "add lightness," or in the case of protocol design, "add simplicity." Peter suggests getting a core set of tests together for alternate implementations like libbitcoin and thinking hard about the dangers of cruft over a 10+ year period when it comes to a technology which will necessarily include a complete history of every crufty decision embodied in transaction histories. In response to Wladimir's suggestion of making use of PGP to sign and verify messages, Peter agrees with the kitchen sink concern and would like to see something like a one-year required discussion period on all non-security changes proposed to the blockchain protocol.
Updated on: 2023-06-06T03:55:58.709994+00:00