What is the best solution to save SmartBCH from dying?

No one knows what is going on behind the scene in the smartBCH community. The leaders who were supposed to keep the community informed about solutions have been silent all these days, leaving the community in doubt about the survival of the chain. The silence of some key leaders of the community has only helped to increase the level of doubt on the chain thereby leading to in-house fighting between community members.

All of the members of the community want the chain to succeed but it is sad to see how the community members were unable to discuss and think through the problem and how to solve it. The disunity among community members is a major concern that needs to be addressed first. If the community can come together and work on a good solution then the SmartBCH chain may survive.

A lot of people have been asking "Will SmartBCH die"? or "Will it survive"? The question is not new. It has been going on for a long time and has been propagated by a lot of people in the community since the bridge in the care of Coinflex was locked. However, ever since that time going to 3 months now, the SmartBCH chain is still functioning. Even now, people have been asking me, "Will SmartBCH survive?". What I am about to say is not an official answer. But what I do know for sure is that the smartBCH team is trying its best to solve the problem. But even then, the SmartBCH team cannot work alone. The community has a big role to play in the survival of the chain.

From looking at the chain of the previous 3 months, there have been a few key players that have supported the chain with their funds to keep the backing of sBCH to BCH mainchain on a ratio of 1:1. However, this doesn't seem to solve the main problem which is having a decentralized bridge.

The Bolivar bridge by the Blockng.money team doesn't fit well in the narrative of the smartBCH chain. A bridge that requires a user to receive bridged funds on another chain entirely is not a bridge that can be called a smartBCH bridge. And such a bridge should ideally be utilized as the bridge between the cryptocurrencies, hence the community cannot rely on it.

Several opinion writer on the bridge issue has aired their view on the matter and how best they think the smartBCH chain can be savaged. One of the solutions that have been suggested by many is to have a DAO of a SmartBCH who can raise the funds for the backing of an SHA-GATE bridge. This DAO will then have to claim the locked funds by Coinflex whenever the funds are released. Although this is a good solution, it will take a long time to have enough people who are willing to participate in the DAO with their funds.

SmartBCH seems not to have enough whales who are willing to make this possible any time soon.

@Pantera suggests a relaunch of the smartBCH chain. However, there are various issues that come with a relaunch. Firstly, there will be a change of name from SmartBCH to something SmartBCH V2. The new chain must also run in sync with the existing chain to enable easy migration of projects on the existing chain to the new chain. The chain that is relaunched must also have the same POW algorithm as the chain of the original SmartBCH. And also, the relaunched chain of SmartBCH will need a new wallet server as the existing wallet server cannot be linked to the new smartBCH chain and running in sync with the relaunched chain. Moreover, some people who may not be aware of the relaunch will find it difficult to recover their token when they get to know about the change of the chain.

The relaunched smartBCH chain will have to undergo numerous protocols and changes. It will be cost-prohibitive to run the chain in sync with the current SmartBCH chain.

Furthermore, Pantera also suggested that the relaunch should come with a governance token for the network which will be issued to the community to raise funds for a decentralized bridge. This could also be airdrop to some committed sBCH holders and those that have been supporting the chain since the issue with the locked bridge started.

Although, this idea seems good on paper and would be much easier to execute. However, it is a lot of work for the SmartBCH team to deal with airdrop distribution. Most people would likely bridge in a larger amount of sBCH with numerous wallets to enable them to claim more portion of the airdrop. This can be a big disadvantage to investors who invest in the governance token since such desperate airdrop claimers would likely sell off the tokens as soon as they receive them.

The biggest long-term solution for this issue might be to relaunch the current SmartBCH chain and link a bridge from the new chain to it, while also using the same wallet server. This will involve creating a new chain of SmartBCH and having the same POW algorithm. In other words, this will not only enable relaunched SmartBCH chain to be linked with the existing SmartBCH chain but also with all of the crypto assets on the existing chain. This will finally put an end to the state of uncertainty.

There could also be a governance token as suggested by Pantera above, but instead of airdropping the token to a few committed users, it should be to every smartBCH wallet that holds any amount of sBCH at the time of the token launch without pre-informing the community about the rules for being qualified for the airdrop. Once the DAO is established, the token should allow access to the SmartBCH network and give access to the SmartBCH and sBCH assets. In this way, SmartBCH can become independent and would not need to rely on mainchain BCH backing anymore.

Interesting, an astute sBCH supporter with the telegram username @BCHfool stated with much confidence that the smartBCH community leaders are not silent for no reason, but they are taking the time to work out the best solution behind the scene. According to @BCHfool, the best solution on the table is to maintain the peg of sBCH to BCH at 1:1 and wait for SHA-GATE to be released in the space of three months from now. He added that a relaunch isn't an option to consider at all.

In conclusion, we cannot ignore the fact that SmartBCH is in deep trouble. Not because of the DAO problem, but because there is a lack of clear information in the community. Thus, it is best to bail out before SmartBCH collapses under the weight of uncertainty. If the development of the SHA-GATE is going on behind the scene, maintaining the peg should be the right thing to do now but, there should be clarity on the issues as soon as possible. As a community, there is a need to agree and decide on a method that will best ensure SmartBCH comes out of this crisis and can take on the whole ecosystem.