Author: Jeremy 2021-12-08 01:11:55
Published on: 2021-12-08T01:11:55+00:00
Jeremy Rubin, a Bitcoin developer, has written a series of posts on his website about why smart contracts may be a critical precursor to securing Bitcoin's future. In response to one of his posts, ZmnSCPxj noted that the post contained more polemic than actual content and questioned why Rubin didn't discuss the actual "smart" in "smart" contract. Rubin clarified that he was discussing the broader community's definition of smart contracts, which is about enhanced functionality rather than true self-enforcement. He argued that improving the "hardware" that Bitcoin runs on could give us better ability to adjudicate the transfers of value, and we should pursue that aggressively.Rubin also discussed the N-of-N rule, noting that while we often accept k-of-n from a reliability perspective, an N-of-N contract requires input from all participants, including oneself, ensuring that the contract will be executed faithfully. However, Rubin cautioned against always using N-of-N since it can be a major obstacle for decentralized coordination-free mining pools. Instead, he argued that smart contract capabilities should focus on improving the four pillars of Bitcoin (scale, privacy, self-custody, and decentralization) to solidify Bitcoin's adjudication of transfers of value.
Updated on: 2023-06-15T03:21:29.854821+00:00