I've spent the last two weeks thinking about the Infrastructure Funding Plan and reading every single article that was published here about it. Before I begin, I'd like to thank the entire community for being so vocal on this topic, it really shows that we care and that we're involved. I'd like to also thank @Jiang_Zhuoer_BTC.TOP_CEO because while it's clear not everyone agrees, putting forth a plan to fund development makes me extremely bullish for the future of Bitcoin Cash.

No, I don't think it's a power grab, and I respect the work and effort behind this, because it's not easy to get people who typically compete with one another to agree on something like this. I think that everyone involved is acting in good faith.

When the plan was announced, I was immediately very hyped because while I wasn't sure if I wholeheartedly supported the plan (yet?), the implications of miners banding together to fund development of the Bitcoin Cash protocol are huge. While a lot of people got offended at the Non-Debate Theory, it's a very powerful concept. None of the things that the Non-Debate Theory gave us were perfect, but they were *clear improvements* over status-quo. Bitcoin Cash wouldn't be alive today without the Non-Debate Theory, because we would still be arguing on what a safe blocksize increase is or what the perfect algorithm to calculate the perfect blocksize is. We would probably have a bigger chunk of the market share had we forked off from Bitcoin Core sooner. The Non-debate Theory is about iterating quickly; learning and improving on what works, and leaving what doesn't work behind. I think we would do well to not get offended by the Non-Debate Theory and even to embrace it.

I remain convinced that although flawed, the plan would work in injecting much-needed capital back into development. However, I don't think we should adopt the plan.

Being Idealistic

Before I explain why I have changed my mind, I do think that we're in the process of writing history, and that Bitcoin Cash has the best chance to dramatically change the world for the better. It will lift people out of poverty, empower them and restore some balance in this deeply inequal world. We're on the front-row seats of this revolution that will give the internet (revolution) a run for its money. And we definitely need money and talent to get there.

But I don't think we should do the IFP. Most of us are idealistic, and that's why we got involved with Bitcoin back in the day and it's why we're involved in Bitcoin Cash now. I think that we, not only have a shot at revolutionizing money, but also revolutionizing governance. I think we should show the entire world that Bitcoin Cash can, not only be self-sufficient, but thrive on voluntary contributions. If we call ourselves libertarians and voluntaryists, if we believe that taxation is theft; then we have to actually stand before our beliefs.

While the plan is clearly clever, it's not consistent with the vision of having decentralized governance (and governments) and it's not consistent with our values. If we need a road built in our town, we will go and build it, simply because we know that the benefits of having a road outweighs the cost of building that road. We will build it ourselves, we will not trick or coerce others to build or pay for it instead of us.

So I can hear you thinking "Well, donations haven't cut it so far, and we can't afford to lose developers." and you're absolutely right. Donations so far haven't been enough, because we shouldn't call them donations. Most of us (myself included, until recently) didn't realize the simple fact that *investing* a small portion of your position in BCH increases the likelihood that your BCH growing (more) significantly. I also realized that the "tragedy of the commons" doesn't apply in crypto simply because it is not a resource that can be depleted. The holders who aren't reinvesting a portion of their holdings are actually hurting their long-term returns.

How do we fix this?

We need to educate each other on the realities and governance goals of Bitcoin Cash. We need to cooperate on growth, and we need to create the technologies that will allow us to fulfill this vision.

Here is a very incomplete list of things that could help us:

• Reviving Lighthouse (again!)

• Bitcoin Cash based Patreon for content creators (or development teams!)

• Using SLP tokens to crowdfund, and better visibility and accountability of the work devs are doing

I know that personally I will be much more involved with the community (both in terms of time and money) than I have in the past.