Author: Gareth Williams 2014-04-25 13:19:58
Published on: 2014-04-25T13:19:58+00:00
In an email conversation between Mike Hearn and an unknown individual, Hearn argued that Bitcoin's overall security and robustness could be threatened by the idea that the interpretation of existing blocks is "up for grabs." The unknown individual responded, stating that Bitcoin is a purely artificial social construct with meanings that are decided upon by humans in order to achieve socially useful goals. However, Hearn clarified that his argument was not about what a bitcoin means but rather what data in the blockchain means. He emphasized the importance of everyone agreeing on a standard that defines who owns bitcoins according to the protocol described in Satoshi's whitepaper. Hearn used the example of Counterparty, an altcoin whose transactions are embedded in the Bitcoin blockchain, to illustrate how mutable interpretations of data in the blockchain can lead to instability and lack of confidence in ownership. Ultimately, Hearn argues that the publicly documented and immutable rules for interpreting data in the blockchain should be more sacred than the 21 million limit.
Updated on: 2023-06-08T20:54:19.016977+00:00