Here is the crucial breakthrough that the IFP has created.
Professionalism.
No more hobby projects, relying on the goodwill of some coder that's fueled by Red Bull and an ideological obsession, such as the case may have been for Satoshi and other early contributors.
For a network to fulfill the mission of P2P Electronic Cash for the world, it has become clear that a sustainable funding model is needed.
IFP provides that.
"But what about coding neutrality?"
^This is the most common, and credible, retort in response to the IFP.
IFP enters us into the next phase of Bitcoin's metamorphosis.
Bitcoin, at inception, needed to be open source & "neutral." If it was not, there would be a central point of failure. Someone to hold to account for it's threat to the Dragon, and would be dealt with like the projects before it.
Bitcoin, since prominence, has clearly been nobody's project. Hence, the vast sea of talented developers creating their own projects, and a general lack of hostility from governments.
This led to the 2017 hype bubble, highlighted by ICOs.
Developers pursuing their self-interest. Seeking material profit, instead of psychic profit, by way of contributing towards the creation of an ideological, digital, Galt's Gulch. Why join the Bitcoin crusade? Just create your own religion & be the leader.
Yet, here we are, still relying on morals as a motivator, & not cultivating an environment to foster THE killer app that blockchain provided for. Money.
With ICO's flaming out, and the litany of shiny objects being pitched to desperate investors & lost developers looking to rekindle the flame *cough*-DeFi-*cough*. We've come back full circle to the original mission... Bitcoin as a better money for the world.
Primarily, a Medium of Exchange + Store of Value (or more accurately, a 'value-transfer network')
Bitcoin was nobody's project. Hence, it was EVERYBODY'S project.
And if it's everybody's project, a nebulous collective, who is responsible for continuing code maintenance? Who contributes the necessary commits? How does anything get done?
So, indeed, code neutrality was a necessary condition for Bitcoin to have any chance at survival in its beginning. Yes.
Enter the next phase...
Pandora's Box has been opened. The idea of a decentralized, digital, p2p money cannot be put back in that box. And the race is on. To compete against all monies. No longer amongst ourselves.
We see reports every day of countries and their governments planning to go fully digital & abandon cash, we see better payment apps (Venmo, CashApp, Zelle), the IMF's plans for a digital currency, the myriad of competing altcoins, corporate coins such as Libra, etc.
It is important to focus on BUIDLing, and adoption, once again. The fundamentals.
Especially in the advent of more private, State Chartered banks, that will no longer be under the thumb of the Fed and their regulations. See (1) article on credible competition from creation of private banks, and (2a) such private banks being cultivated in Wyoming by way of their (2b) Special Purpose Depository Institutions (Also, see CoinFugazi's article for the best counter I've seen for my positing of private banks providing metals + fintech/pmts as viable threat to Bitcoin.)
Alternative monies + payment technologies will, and are, competing to become the next money, and will be making themselves available for all those jumping ship once inflation starts sinking the boat of fiat. (See Hayden Otto's The Fiat Endgame)
BCH understands this, and #buidlerbergs are indeed sharpening their knives.
Come November 15th, incentives will be aligned, knives sharpened, a well-funded army, and the battle will commence.
Development teams, now getting paid by the network's native currency, will have their compensation inextricably tied their work product, the network itself.
And, as professionals, they will be held accountable for their work. No getting funded by donations & flaking, or pining for more funding in order to finish what they started. Such as is enabled by a precarious donation-based funding model. If there is not reliable compensation for work, and most coders have primary jobs outside of crypto, why would they continue working?
The IFP will incentivize developers to see their work to completion, and be compensated accordingly, all while attracting talented developers.
This sounds not only like a winning system, but a just one.
BCH with IFP cracks the code on incentives for a creating a sustainable network.
No more martyrdom & expectation of self-sacrifice for the good 'ol cause. That is an antiquated model. One that must be outgrown. The landscape has changed, paradigms sufficiently broken, and time to enter into the new phase.
Whether you ideologically believe it or not, there will be a professional development team buidling BCH to become P2P Electronic Cash.
The new frontier of property rights, and taking back individual sovereignty, awaits us at the other end...
Viva la revolucion!
<3
-Sean Ballard
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