Exploring BCHBull: An Exclusive Interview with emergent_reasons, Legend of the BCH Community
Hey there! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing a legend in the Bitcoin Cash community - a man who's done amazing things for the community. His name is emergent_reasons and he's all about building on top of Bitcoin Cash and keeping the world a better place than he found it.
Emergent_reasons is a multi-talented guy who's done many jobs, from software developer to teacher to president. He's invested in both Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, and the block size conflict that caused Bitcoin Cash to be created made him realize how important it is to build Bitcoin and help it become the world's top currency.
Since then, he's been busy contributing to many projects and building new industries on Bitcoin Cash. Despite his incredible achievements, he remains humble and focused on the Bitcoin Cash cause.
Thanks to his hard work, projects like Anyhedge and General Protocols have come to life, leading to the creation of the BCHBull app. This web app allows users to leverage or hedge Bitcoin Cash against multiple assets - pretty cool stuff!
We're thrilled to have the chance to chat with someone as knowledgeable and experienced as emergent_reasons. We're going to talk about the BCHBull app and learn more about his vision for the future of Bitcoin Cash.
So, if you're keen to know more about the BCHBull app, emergent_reasons' role in the Bitcoin Cash community, and what he thinks the future holds for Bitcoin Cash, be sure to join us for this exclusive interview.
💬: What inspired you to develop a BCH defi web app that allows people to leverage and hedge Bitcoin Cash against multiple assets on-chain on the Bitcoin Cash network?
🎙️: When BCH gained OP_CDSV, it indirectly enabled covenants and interesting smart contracts. At that time, im_uname noticed that we could use it to solve the purchasing power stability problem without custodians or counterparty risk. We took the idea, planned out a strategy, and soon after AnyHedge protocol was born. Later on, development of AnyHedge led to the founding of General Protocols (GP).
💬: How does BCHBull leverage and hedge Bitcoin Cash against other assets on-chain using UTXOS technology and Anyhedge protocol?
🎙️: The AnyHedge whitepaper gives a detailed answer to this question. In short, a person or business who wants purchasing power stability, puts BCH that is worth, for example 100 USD, into a BCH smart contract for some period of time, for example 1 month. After 1 month, they get BCH worth 100 USD back even if the price of BCH has changed. This works because there is a counterparty on the other side who also puts money into the contract to cover price movements. If the BCH price goes up during the contract, the counterparty gets back more BCH than they started with. If it goes down, they get less. However the stable part always pays out the same 100 USD.
We chose BCH because we believe it has the greatest potential of all crypto chains due to many factors. UTXO efficiency is one of them, allowing everyone to participate even as usage of BCH grows.
💬: What challenges did you face during the development process of BCHBull, and how did you overcome them?
🎙️: At first we self-funded everything, paying all contracting and expenses ourselves. When we were still bootstrapping and working hard to develop the basics of AnyHedge, the "developer-tax" issue happened in the BCH ecosystem. That was an existential issue for BCH for many of us, and at GP we decided to do everything we could to make sure BCH survives and succeeds despite the mess. I have written an article about that time called the Flipstarter Origin Story.
After surviving that period, we thought that finding funding for an unproven business model would be difficult, but we were happily surprised to find several business investors who were aligned with the success of Bitcoin Cash. They made investments into GP and allowed us to attract talented people with a more stable budget and runway.
The other major issue has been that due to the stagnating of the BTC chain and former instability in BCH ecosystem, very little development work has been done on UTXO infrastructure, Bitcoin virtual machine (like Ethereum Virtual Machine, EVM), smart contract tooling, network communication, oracles, etc. We had to develop almost everything carefully and time consumingly from scratch. Luckily there were some very bright spots along the way such as Tendo Pein's Spedn compiler and Rosco Kalis' CashScript compiler. We have worked hard over several years, much longer than we expected to establish or improve all of those aspects in BCH so that there is a foundation to build products on. Of course others have been working at the same time, not only GP.
The current challenge is drawing more users in to use BCH and AnyHedge through BCH Bull, Paytaca wallet and other upcoming ways. BCH has a deep, old, misinformed stigma against it and it is very hard to break through. We will do it together with everyone else who is working to show the world that BCH is useful and valuable.
💬: What makes BCHBull different from other BCH defi web apps and how does it provide value to users?
🎙️: It has been designed from the beginning to use Bitcoin Cash's advantages. It is permissionless, non-custodial, does not have debt or debt-like risk, does not have custodial risk, and requires no account. The strategy of AnyHedge protocol is to build up a pool of speculative short/long liquidity. Once that exists, it will be easy for stability-seekers such as organizations and individuals to reach into the pool to get stability for their capital, revenue or savings. These are fundamental basics that BCH needs to provide in order to be a viable money network for the world.
💬: How do you ensure the security of user assets on BCHBull, and what measures do you have in place to prevent hacks and attacks?
🎙️: Users put BCH directly into a contract. GP never holds any funds. We think that non-custodial designs are not optional for native BCH apps. The settlement service that GP operates observes every contract and every price message from related price oracles. When any conditions for redemption occur, the settlement service immediately settles the contract, trustlessly, with no risk to the parties. This works because the contract enforces all payout rules.
There are two issues to consider though. The first is that due to limitations of current wallets in BCH and all UTXO networks, a temporary wallet in the user's browser is necessary to build the transaction that funds the AnyHedge smart contract. That means there is a very short period of seconds where the web wallet in the user's browser has access to the funds. However, once the money is in the contract, the money is as safe as the BCH network (very safe).
The second issue is that the smart contract needs to operate properly for the money to be safe. The AnyHedge contract has been reviewed and re-reviewed by many people over time, and the mathematics of it have been carefully analyzed to ensure that it is not only safe but also precise in its calculations. For smart contracts on EVM networks, contract audits are common, although not always of high quality. We expect that similar services will appear for UTXO smart contracts as usage, volume and number of contracts increases. That will take some time to appear, just as it did in Ethereum in the past.
💬: How do you plan to expand the range of assets that users can leverage and hedge against on BCHBull, and what criteria do you use to select new assets?
🎙️: The liquidity provider (LP) decides what assets it is willing to use in contracts. Expanding the list of assets is easy - it just requires a new oracle. The difficulty is that there is a chicken and egg problem with the need for volume in an asset for it to make sense for a liquidity provider (LP) to offer it. Therefore, as the volume on current oracles increases, it is likely that the LP will be happy to increase the number of available assets. The criteria is simply expected demand.
💬: What is your vision for the future of BCHBull, and how do you plan to achieve it?
🎙️: The vision is to achieve the plan described above and in the whitepaper. A unique stability solution that shares the deep strengths of the Bitcoin Cash network without exposing users to the kind of risks that have wiped out thousands of people in custodial and even non-custodial debt-based arrangements.
💬: How does BCHBull contribute to the adoption of Bitcoin Cash as a global currency, and what role do you see BCH defi playing in the future of decentralized finance?
🎙️: It expands the number of fundamental services available to people on the network by one. There are many more needed to serve all basic financial needs, and we hope to build those alongside other builders in the BCH ecosystem. We see Bitcoin Cash as being the premier fiat-alternative money network in the world. That is why GP builds on Bitcoin Cash.
💬: How do you address concerns around the volatility of Bitcoin Cash and other assets on BCHBull, and what strategies do you use to manage risk?
🎙️: Trading of volatility risk is the whole point of AnyHedge and BCH Bull.
💬: What advice do you have for developers who are interested in building BCH defi web apps, and what resources would you recommend for them to learn more about the ecosystem?
🎙️: Do your best to be a good business person, even if you don't create a "business". Have clear goals including how to self-sustain, have a viable strategy, stay closely aligned with long term fundamentals (permissionless, non-custodial, trustless, accessible money), bring people together if possible, and focus effort to achieve one big goal at a time. If this is done by multiple individuals and teams, a snowball of success will draw more success and increase the chances of realizing a viable fiat-alternative money network that can show the world a new way.
To conclude, thank you emergent_reasons for taking the time to speak and share your insights on the Bitcoin Cash community and your experience building BCHBull web app.
It's clear that your passion and dedication to the community have made a significant impact, and I look forward to seeing what the future holds. And a special thanks to all BCHBull team for working hard to bring this marvelous app to the Bitcoin Cash community and to the world.
I wish both Emergent_reasons and BCHBULL web app a continued success in the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem and crypto space.
Read also The Interviews:
Emergent_reasons quote - "Keep the world a better place than you found it, and building on top of Bitcoin Cash is one way to do that".
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