Friday, December 4th, 2020
We recently witnessed something that's never happened in the 12 year history of Bitcoin. An entire community forking together at the drop of a hat to get rid of a single bozo.
Some have framed this as a bad thing, but to me it was a demonstration of the BCHA community's values. For example, I didn't see one person who had a problem with what happened, and within a day everything was pretty much back to normal.
Skeptics want to say this isn't Bitcoin, but I believe this is exactly what Bitcoin is about. To me achieving consensus ultimately comes down to the people in a community and what they value. It's not about how much hashing power a chain has, or the total accumulated proof of work. Consensus is reached by those in the ecosystem who make it valuable to begin with.
Some have been saying what about the value of disincentives, as in the value of disincentivizing future forks from happening. But isn't that exactly what Bitcoin is fighting against? To me Bitcoin represents freedom. The freedom to participate in the global economy, the freedom to transact, and the freedom to explore new ideas.
I say what needs to be disincentivized are those who seek to suppress these freedoms, those who wish to prevent healthy competition and the proliferation of new ideas.
We shouldn't be punishing people for wanting to try something new and competing honestly in the marketplace. We should be punishing those who wish to stop them.
I support the BCHA project because I believe it embodies everything I value, such as the freedom to try new things, and the freedom to profit from your work. I also value people with ability and drive, as well as having a way to invest in such people and profiting together.
In many ways, I feel like BCHA has given us a chance to rewind the clock and redo Bitcoin. But this time instead of relying on developers having to work for sponsorships or donations, Bitcoin ABC is finally professionalizing Bitcoin by aligning their incentives with the rest of the ecosystem.
Imagine finally having a network that offers near instant confirmations, that proves resilient against attackers, a network that's fast, and cheap, and can handle as many transactions as we need it to.
But a network like that isn't just going to build itself, and that's why we hired Bitcoin ABC to get it done. At today's prices, I'd say it's a bargain considering we're getting the CTO you can almost never afford.
I am fine with trying something new. It's what people do and why we have so much luxury in our lives. I cannot say Bitcoin or any altcoin represents freedom since everything is, since November 17, 2020, under control of our National Bank. This means freedom and being anonymous is definitely over.