Author: Gareth Williams 2014-04-27 23:10:43
Published on: 2014-04-27T23:10:43+00:00
The author of the message is a pragmatist who supports useful and non-controversial hard forks. However, he believes that the essence of Bitcoin is trustlessness and that Satoshi's invention is "ecash" - bearer-negotiable, whoever-controls-the-private-keys-owns-it. He likes trustless systems because they allow for reliability and predictability while avoiding all the costs associated with imperfect humans. The author acknowledges that the question of what changes are okay and what would be a violation of the social contract will be discussed endlessly over the coming years. He believes that the answer to whether Bitcoin's users want a system that evolves or remains exactly as they found it will likely be different on a case-by-case basis. Nevertheless, he is skeptical of any argument that argues against change for its own sake and believes that there must be an argument rooted in a careful analysis of costs and benefits.
Updated on: 2023-06-08T21:00:55.630015+00:00