Author: Adam Back 2014-10-22 21:54:35
Published on: 2014-10-22T21:54:35+00:00
The Bitcoin community has developed a process called 2-way pegging, which allows users to move Bitcoin between the main blockchain and different side chains that may have varying parameters or experimental features. This process involves suspending coins in a fancy script and reanimating them with an SPV proof of burn on the side chain, with a maturity period and fraud bounty fee included. The Bitcoin chain is firewalled from security bugs on the side chain by imposing the rule that no more coins can be reanimated than are currently suspended. The discussion involved several Bitcoin experts, including Greg Maxwell, Matt Corallo, Pieter Wuille, Jorge Timon, Mark Freidenbach, and Luke Dashjr.The original idea behind 2-way pegging was called staging and aimed to provide a way for Bitcoin to move to a live beta and stable being worked on in parallel. Development runs in parallel on Bitcoin 1.x beta and Bitcoin 0.x stable and leap-frogs as beta becomes stable after testing. During the beta period, BetaCoin is NOT an alpha and people can rely on it and use it in anger for real value transactions. Private chains add some possibility for higher scaling while retaining Bitcoin security properties. Users can unilaterally move their coins to the side-chain they came from, should the chain server refuse to process transactions involving them. In conclusion, the community's proposed 2-way pegging process allows for greater experimentation with new features while maintaining the integrity of the Bitcoin network.In a discussion thread from 2013, a participant shared an idea to compress the blockchain. Peter Vessenes expressed interest in the idea and suggested that it could serve as an extended version of the current 100 block wait for mined coins. The compression would need to be part of the mainnet validation rules to work effectively but would require some form of staging to evaluate realistically. The idea challenges the traditional notion of 'alt chain' and presents an alternative approach to addressing the issue of blockchain size.
Updated on: 2023-06-09T03:24:32.776790+00:00