P2P Cash

Kim Dotcom Discusses the Swelling Crypto Economy and His Plans to ‘Accelerate P2P Electronic Cash’

13/01/2021 by Idelto Editor

This week, news.Bitcoin.com chatted with Kim Dotcom, the founder of the now-defunct file hosting service Megaupload and the creator of the content monetization application called K.im. The Internet entrepreneur Dotcom is a big believer when it comes to the crypto economy and during the conversation, we discussed subjects like bitcoin cash, the recent Big Tech censorship, and how cryptocurrencies will forward financial freedom.

Kim Dotcom is a well known Internet entrepreneur and political activist that believes the crypto economy will continue to swell in value. Dotcom is well known for being the former CEO of the now-defunct file hosting platform Megaupload. The site was taken down by the U.S. government in 2012, but before the takedown Megaupload served 180,000,000 registered members, and saw 50,000,000 visits per day.

Currently, Dotcom is working on a content monetization application called K.im which will meld the benefits of cryptocurrency solutions and file hosting. News.Bitcoin.com reported on the application in the summer of 2017, and the K.im platform is expected to launch in Q4 of 2021.

Moreover, Dotcom has revealed that the next-generation content monetization app will see bitcoin cash (BCH) integration. During our phone conversation, Dotcom spoke about the recent demand for digital assets, why BCH has a lot of upside potential, the recent Big Tech censorship, and how decentralized platforms will invigorate our future.

Bitcoin.com (BC): While the global economy has been extremely gloomy, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have seen significant demand. Do you think cryptocurrencies will continue to shine in 2021?

Kim Dotcom: What we’ve seen with the global economy because of the pandemic, in my mind is really just the beginning of greater global distress of the economy and currencies. Simply because governments are printing money to finance debt. In the U.S. alone in 2020, over 30% of all the U.S. dollars in existence have been created during the year. It’s just not sustainable, you cannot keep printing money to pay what is required.

I think there is a significant devaluation of the U.S. dollar going on and that is driving the demand for cryptocurrencies. Digital currencies are now seen to be more stable than fiat currencies. If that trend continues, which I think it will, it’s going to accelerate the devaluation of fiat currencies. Therefore causing significant disturbances in the markets as well.

BC: Recently you said that Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has great “upside potential” and is currently “undervalued.” Can you tell our readers why you think this is the case?

Kim Dotcom: There are a couple of factors. One factor is that bitcoin cash (BCH) already does around 10% of the transaction volume that bitcoin (BTC) does. But BCH is only valued at 1% of the current valuation of BTC. So that’s a little bit of a discrepancy there. It is a very simple way to understand why it is undervalued. Another reason is that bitcoin cash, unlike bitcoin, is electronic cash where bitcoin wants to be electronic gold. Bitcoin is not really what you use to pay for things online. If you go and buy an apple and transaction fees cost more than the fruit, that’s not a viable electronic cash solution.

Now when you look at the transaction volume potential for bitcoin cash, it is significantly higher than that of bitcoin because of the parameters of BCH. It has very low fees, currently, on txstreet.com it says that the average media fee for bitcoin cash is $0.001 per transaction.

You don’t have that with BTC, so bitcoin cash is likely to take a more significant share of daily, real-life transactional volume. That’s where the upside potential lies and that’s why I think BCH is undervalued.

BC: You also said the other day that you plan to make bitcoin cash the “leading electronic cash solution in the world” and said you plan to help “accelerate the use of BCH.” How do you plan to do that?

Kim Dotcom: So global credit card transactions are about 1.01 billion a day, I think that bitcoin cash in the next ten years will be able to compete with that. More and more vendors are accepting bitcoin cash at their point-of-sale and we are going to accelerate that with partnerships. Getting big retail chains to accept bitcoin cash like grocery markets and really anything that does big volumes of transactions. Then of course, online transactions as well because nothing works better and smoother than bitcoin cash. It’s already a proven system with over 100,000 vendors that have implemented BCH, so you can see that there is a demand for a solution that is cheaper and better than traditional credit cards.

BC: Can you tell our readers about the progress of the application K.im you have been working on?

Kim Dotcom: It’s going well and we’ve been working on it for a number of years. We’re basically turning files into shops. For example, if you are a music artist and you created an mp3 file, you can embed that into a K.im file shop and then the file becomes the shop. You can unlock the content inside the file with a crypto payment, and that’s a new way for people to basically transact. They can also have a section in the file shop for commissions, so they can have a sales force all over the Internet.

Anyone who wants to sell their content can get whatever share the artist or creator wants to have, so you can basically turn the entire Internet into a massive sales force. We expect K.im to have several hundred million users within five years of launching and a lot of that transaction volume will sit with bitcoin cash. Simply because it is the cheapest, fastest way to transact right now with crypto.

BC: How do you think the world’s governments will react to the swelling crypto economy and permissionless innovations?

Kim Dotcom: I think cryptocurrencies are going to be a target for governments, because crypto is in reality competing with the money-printing schemes. The governments want to continue to print money to pay their bills. To pay for its military, to pay for whatever the government needs. As long as crypto continues to grow, the ability of the government to do that and run these old schemes is undermined more and more. I think we will see governments creating difficulties for cryptocurrencies and I expect that.

BC: Just recently, Big Tech censored the sitting U.S. President and a number of other voices and even applications like Parler. Why do you think this is happening?

Kim Dotcom: You can see that Big Tech is getting more and more engaged in politics. One has to wonder what these companies want to get out of this. They are not doing this out of their good heart, they are doing this for a purpose and one has to wonder what that purpose is.

BC: With governments encroaching on freedoms worldwide, do you think cryptocurrency networks will help protect financial freedoms?

Kim Dotcom: Absolutely, cryptocurrencies are the game-changer. They will definitely unlock more freedoms for people around the world. It is just one of many components. What the Big Tech companies did has very little to do with crypto because they run the infrastructure we are all using. They can now basically control what we see, what we hear, and that is frightening. Blockchain is just as interesting as the Internet was and the opportunities are endless. I think that it is important that we have more decentralized, non-corporate owned networks to communicate.

We don’t really want a single entity to be able to change the way we communicate. It should be a network for the people, by the people, open source, decentralized, and I think that is the future. I think the tech giants are making a big mistake in underestimating the power of open source and the willingness of people to switch to something else.

BC: When do you think the masses will catch on to cryptocurrency solutions?

Kim Dotcom: We will see a steady rise of people adopting cryptocurrencies. It is only roughly 3% of Internet users that have had any contact with crypto. The upside potential is enormous. The more people learn about the benefits of cryptocurrencies, the easier it becomes to use and the safer it becomes to use. With those improvements, more people will engage and that is part of my mission. We need to do a good job of marketing crypto better.

The crypto community also has to come together and work together toward that effort because the sooner we have critical mass, the better for everyone involved in the crypto space. I see a lot of infighting, I see a lot of tribal negative arguments and they are counter-productive. We should all just work together to make sure that users feel safe coming into this space. So the first thing they see is not all these arguments and bickering about what is the best cryptocurrency.

BC: Do you think applications like K.im will help fuel the crypto economy and peer-to-peer electronic cash solutions?

Kim Dotcom: Yes big time. K.im is going to have hundreds of millions of users and they are going to fuel the crypto economy no doubt. It’s going to be a part of making mass adoption happen and there will be some killer apps like K.im, that will do the same and combined, we’re going to drive more and more people toward accepting cryptocurrencies.

What do you think about our conversation with Kim Dotcom? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Bitcoin Cash Proponent Tattoos Forearm to Spread Digital Cash Awareness

06/12/2020 by Idelto Editor

In order to spread the message about peer-to-peer electronic cash, some people talk about cryptocurrencies on a daily basis or wear t-shirts that display the bitcoin logo. Digital currency proponent, David Valenz, has taken the message spreading to a whole new level when he got a large tattoo on his forearm that displays a Bitcoin Cash logo. Valenz believes bitcoin cash is the best digital cash he’s ever used, and it’s beneficial to someone like him that lives outside the banking system.

Just recently, Bitcoin Cash proponent, David Valenz, decided to get a tattoo on his arm that displays the BCH logo in order to show people that cryptocurrency is a way of life to him. Valenz recently tweeted about getting his new tattoo and shared a video getting the ink work on Youtube as well.

Bitcoin Cash Proponent Tattoos Forearm to Spread Digital Cash Awareness — Bitcoin Cash proponent, David Valenz and his new BCH tattoo.

The crypto enthusiast also said that the tattoo parlor accepted BCH for payment, which to him is “just another business that’s now accepting bitcoin cash.” Following the post on Twitter, Valenz further wrote about why he got the tattoo on the BCH-fueled blogging web portal read.cash.

“Cryptocurrency, more in particular [bitcoin cash] is the best digital cash I’ve ever used,” Valenz said. “Sending, receiving, being able to send a text of payment or email to someone alone is huge for me. I do not have a lot of money like a lot of people are blessed to have, but what little I have… I 100% throw all of it into crypto. It defines freedom to me.”

Valenz further wrote that he’s tried other crypto coins and “there’s always bugs, issues” and things he will nitpick about. However, with bitcoin cash (BCH), Valenz says the cryptocurrency has never given him any issues.

“So why the tattoo? It’s my way of life. It saved me,” Valenz insisted. “I have very very great friends in the crypto industry who are well off better than I am financially… And they understand my situation and it sucks… I wish it was different. If it wasn’t for crypto, I would literally be dealing with cash, on a physical cash basis with everyone I encounter… so If I was to have thousands of dollars, that would be a lot of money to protect, handle, etc,” the BCH supporter stressed.

Valenz added:

Bitcoin Cash solves endless amounts of problems for me, so I appreciate it on a much higher level than most people could understand…

The crypto enthusiast’s story shows how much conviction people have toward spreading economic freedom, and how digital assets are changing people’s lives for the better. Valenz’s read.cash blog post highlights that he lives “outside” the banking system, which is pretty much like “living like a ghost” to Valenz.

There are billions of people who are dealing with crazy economies that are spiraling downward thanks to corrupt and manipulative governments. Millions of individuals are also “living like a ghost,” and many people worldwide have literally no access to banking necessities. Bitcoin cash (BCH) can help people safely store wealth and anyone can transact with the peer-to-peer digital cash in a permissionless fashion.

For this reason and many others, Valenz explains on the read.cash blog in his bio that he spreads the word of bitcoin cash (BCH) regularly. “Everyday to everyone I encounter,” Valenz’s bio says. “Why? Because it’s the future, and I can only hope one day it pays off,” he added.

What do you think about David Valenz’s story? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

The post Bitcoin Cash Proponent Tattoos Forearm to Spread Digital Cash Awareness appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Overwriting Satoshi: Kraken Exec Says Bitcoin Wasn’t Built for Payments, Isn’t Peer-to-Peer

06/02/2020 by Idelto Editor

As Director of Business Development for popular crypto exchange Kraken, when Dan Held speaks, people listen. As such, his recent 46-tweet diatribe on why the “payments narrative” for bitcoin is flawed grabbed the attention of many, tickling the ears of hardcore Lighting Network fans and bitcoin core maximalists alike. His argument is prima facie absurd, not to mention misleading.

Also Read: Craig Wright’s ‘Bonded Courier’ Allegedly an Attorney Who Can’t Communicate

Held Says Bitcoin Wasn’t Meant Primarily for Payments

While constantly proselytizing folks about the “true meaning” of the bitcoin whitepaper is a waste of time, there comes a point where an interpretation emerges so wildly misinformed and grossly inaccurate it deserves an address. Enter Held’s recent Twitter storm.

For the purposes of this breakdown, Dan Held‘s broad assertions that bitcoin was not created to be a competitive payments system, or peer-to-peer cash, will be addressed according to his major claims.

Claim 1: Bitcoin Was Built to Be a Store of Value

Held writes: “Bitcoin was purpose-built to first be a Store of Value (SoV).” Yet the very first line of Satoshi’s bitcoin whitepaper reads:

Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System

“Bitcoin: A Store of Value System,” isn’t there. Held misconstrues Satoshi Nakamoto’s well-known comparisons of bitcoin to gold, and takes them to mean the SoV narrative is most important, payments be damned. But it’s critical to note that any relatively sound, widely utilized means of payment will eventually become a store of value. Satoshi understood this well, as his own words will later demonstrate.

Gold is more sound than government fiat money, it’s just harder to transact with in modern times. Satoshi’s “purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash,” that “would allow online payments” (again straight from the bitcoin whitepaper) was created to solve this problem, effectively creating spendable, digital gold.

Held’s next several tweets attempt to prove, however, that Nakamoto didn’t view BTC as cash. He quotes Nakamoto from some of his well-known forum posts:

In the above quote Satoshi does compare bitcoin to gold in terms of scarcity, but emphasizes: “And one special, magical property: can be transported over a communications channel.” So the whole magic of bitcoin is exchange. Nakamoto goes on to note in the same post that use as cash for payments could be what gives bitcoin its value in the first place:

Maybe it could get an initial value circularly as you’ve suggested, by people foreseeing its potential usefulness for exchange.

Claim 2: Bitcoin Was Not Designed to Replace Payment Systems Like Visa

In some of the very forum posts Held references, Nakamoto writes:

The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that’s required to make it work … We have to trust them with our privacy, trust them not to let identity thieves drain our accounts. Their massive overhead costs make micropayments impossible.

Satoshi is clearly presenting bitcoin here as an alternative to conventional currency, and not as some weird store of value built without a use case. He even goes so far as to mention micropayments. One would be hard pressed to find the last time gold was suggested for such a thing.

Tweet 10 of Held’s exposition finds the exec making leaps in logic which would impress even the most limber of mental gymnasts. He quotes Nakamoto pointing to scarcity as a value proposition, and then runs wild. The logic is as follows: Bitcoin has scarcity — Visa does not — thus bitcoin was not meant to be a payment system like Visa.

But why does scarcity rule out something being an effective payments system, especially when bitcoin is digital and divisible? Most of Satoshi’s antipathy toward the banking system which Held himself acknowledges repeatedly is targeted at this very same lack of scarcity and security, engendering corruption.

Held concludes this section:

With the 2008 financial crisis, trust had been lost in a world that ran on trust. Bitcoin was launched in a time of absolute necessity, Satoshi planted the seed at precisely the right moment. The world didn’t need a new VISA, they needed an alternative to banks.

Claim 3: Bitcoin Is a Bearer Asset, Cash Just Means “Money Box”

Now Held just begins inserting his own definitions into the whitepaper. Cash is no longer cash, in the common sense, but we’ve taken an etymological dive into the French roots of the word and been shown it simply means “money box” which is, duh, a store of value. Checkmate, payments enthusiasts.

The problem here is further exacerbated by a strange comparison of bitcoin to a bearer asset. As legal operations specialist Rob Henham pointed out back in 2016:

Holding bitcoins does not give that bitcoin holder any rights against the issuer of bitcoins (the bitcoin protocol) or to any other underlying asset. Although bitcoin is extraordinary in many ways, it is just a plain asset whose value is determined intrinsically, rather than by reference to another underlying asset.

Held then steps back, takes a deep breath, and prepares for his final show of flips, somersaults, balance-beam cartwheels and swirling, colorful ribbons by claiming that bitcoin isn’t peer-to-peer, and should have been made inflationary.

Claim 4: Bitcoin Isn’t Peer-to-Peer, Should Have Been Inflationary If Meant for Payments

In tweets 22-25 Held quotes creator of litecoin Charlie Lee as saying: “Bitcoin isn’t ‘peer-to-peer.’ Payments are sent from sender to miners, who record it on a distributed ledger … Lightning network payments, on the other hand, are p2p payments. They are sometimes direct p2p, sometimes indirect p2p. LN payments have to be sent from p2p to get from the sender to the recipient. Both have to be online, just like other p2p networks like BitTorrent.”

Apparently the goal is now for there to be trusted third parties in the middle of transactions again, who can drop out unexpectedly just like banks and other payment services. Because, reasons, and Satoshi. The bitter irony wasn’t lost on all readers of the thread, one of whom commented:

Held fails to note that miners are not payment processors in any sort of traditional sense. They merely record things into the network. @zbingledack retorts:

This is confused. Reality: Bitcoins are sent from user to user. Miners merely record the transaction. The moment a merchant hands you a transaction template and you sign it and send it back to the merchant, the transaction is legally complete. Miners merely record it.

In tweet 31, Held makes the stunning claim that “If Satoshi wanted Bitcoin to first be used as a medium of exchange to purchase goods and services, he would have made it inflationary. People don’t spend deflationary currencies when they can make the same purchase in infl. curr.” In other words, “just use a credit card, bro.”

Claim 5: Store of Value Precedes Medium of Exchange. Satoshi Knew This but Used the Payments Narrative Anyway

If one were take a time machine and ask Austrian School economist Carl Menger about Held’s ideas, he may have been shocked. After all, gold became a strong store of value after millennia of use as a commodity and money, not the other way around. Payments, in other words. Held says bitcoin doesn’t work as a medium of exchange right now, but it will at some point in the future. “People pushing the MoE narrative at this moment in time are counterproductive to adoption,” the Kraken exec claims.

He then posts a graph showing a steady rise in merchant adoption until BTC’s momentum as cash was effectively killed by congestion, high fees, and refusal to increase the block size. None of this is mentioned in the thread, of course. Like most exercises in sophistry, the ramble goes on to confidently pretend this was always the design from the start, claiming Satoshi simply advertised bitcoin as a medium of exchange to garner support:

Conclusion

To sum up: Satoshi Nakamoto knew bitcoin couldn’t be a medium of exchange, but decided to pitch it exactly as that anyway. “Cash” really means “store of value” in English because that’s what the root word means in French. “Peer-to-peer” really means a settlement layer depending on third parties who must always be online. Bitcoin was never meant to contend with payment systems like Visa, even though Satoshi mentioned micropayments and directly said himself:

The existing visa network processes about 15 million Internet purchases a day worldwide. Bitcoin can already scale much larger than that with existing hardware for a fraction of the cost. It never really hits a scale ceiling.

Whatever motivations Held had for posting this thread, it certainly is remarkable, and seems further evidence of how far some tribalist narratives can stretch, complicating even the simplest of ideas, in praise of the almighty Lightning Network and maximalist religion.

What are your thoughts on Held’s Twitter storm? Let us know in the comments section below.

Op-ed disclaimer: This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the Op-ed article. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any information in this Op-ed article.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, fair use.

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Close to $6k in Bitcoin Cash Tips Paid to Read.cash Authors Last Week

29/01/2020 by Idelto Editor

The read.cash blog has been a resource for the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) community for a while now but ever since the recent miner funded development proposal, the blogging site has gathered significant traction. For instance, the front page of read.cash shows that during the last week, more than $5,730 in bitcoin cash has been given to post authors.

Also read: Data Shows $25 Billion Worth of Bitcoin and Ether Held by Seven Crypto Exchanges

Read.cash Blog Gathers Momentum During the Infrastructure Funding Debate

Read.cash is a blogging website that rewards content creators with bitcoin cash incentives and a large number of BCH proponents leverage the platform. Seven days ago on January 22, Btc.top’s founder, Jiang Zhuoer, revealed an infrastructure funding plan for Bitcoin Cash which was met with mixed reviews. While a number of BCH supporters took to Reddit and Twitter to share their two cents, many BCH fans leveraged the read.cash blog in order to share their opinion about the proposal. Out of the 28 posts on the front page of the read.cash platform, 17 of them are about the proposed development fund. The posts are written by ordinary BCH users, miners, developers, and influencers who felt they needed to write about the proposal. Tallying up the tips on the read.cash front page shows that there’s been more than $5,730 in bitcoin cash given to authors.

Before the funding proposal, read.cash was slowly gathering more users and blog posts. News.Bitcoin.com recently published a step-by-step guide covering how to register for read.cash and start creating content. Last month, the team behind read.cash development published a chart that shows the number of articles per day has been increasing. Across a variety of r/btc threads, a number of BCH supporters have explained that they enjoy the platform a great deal.

Individuals just discovering the site have also given the read.cash platform compliments as well. “I write Audiobook reviews and am moving from Medium to read.cash and just posted my first article — The site beats Medium hands down,” one new user wrote nine days ago. Moreover, after all the big tips and onchain voting this week, many BCH supporters congratulated the read.cash developers for their hard work. “In ten years your site may facilitate million dollar tips through the decentralized blockchain network — How does that make you feel?” one Redditor asked the creators. Following the question, the read.cash team responded:

Unbelievable — BCH is un-freaking-believable — I mean I’m with Bitcoin since 2013, but it never stops to amaze me. The best part is that it’s peer-to-peer — The site doesn’t even have much to do with it.

Crypto Proponents Appreciate Leveraging Read.cash to Share Their Content and Earn Bitcoin Cash

In another r/btc post discussing the $1,000 BCH tip sent to the developer, Imaginary Username, the read.cash creators emphasized that people should still only keep small amounts of funds on the web wallet. “Just a reminder for everyone not to keep big amounts of money in read.cash’s online wallet — Web browser wallets are very convenient, but cannot be made very secure,” the developers stressed. Two weeks ago, a writer dubbed Messier87 explained in a read.cash blog post how appreciative he was that a BCH-centric blogging platform exists.

“I have been around some Blockchain-based blogging platforms for some time now,” Messier87 wrote. “As more new forms of these types of platforms are launched, the space becomes more competitive.” Messier87 detailed all the reasons why he likes read.cash better than other blockchain-based blogging platforms. For instance while alternative blogs like Steemit use native coins, read.cash leverages the fourth largest coin by market cap. Messier87 noted that with other blockchain-based blogs writers sometimes have to wait days or even weeks to spend their tips but with read.cash that’s not the case.

“Sending funds on read.cash can happen as soon as you are tipped,” Messier87 underlined.

The author said that compared to well-established blockchain blogs, read.cash has a clean user interface (UI) that works. Read.cash was launched in October 2019, and Messier87 remarked that he appreciated how much of the read.cash roadmap was completed so far. The recent tipping and slew of infrastructure funding plan blog posts have cast the read.cash blog into the limelight. It will be interesting to see if the platform’s growth trend continues to rise after the debate settles.

What do you think about all the blogging taking place on the read.cash platform during the last week and a half? Have you tried the read.cash blogging site yet? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any ideas, concepts, content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Read.cash, Jamie Redman, Reddit (rbtc), and Fair Use.

Did you know you can verify any unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction with our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool? Simply complete a Bitcoin address search to view it on the blockchain. Plus, visit our Bitcoin Charts to see what’s happening in the industry.

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Bitcoin.com Update: Dev Fund Proposal ‘Will Not Go Through’ Without More Agreement

28/01/2020 by Idelto Editor

The BCH infrastructure funding proposal initially announced by Jiang Zhuoer on January 22 will not go through as planned without greater agreement in the Bitcoin Cash community, Bitcoin.com has announced via a read.cash post uploaded today.

Also Read: Heated Debate Continues Over Bitcoin Cash Infrastructure Funding Plan

Bitcoin.com Will Not Support Plan Without Greater Agreement in BCH Ecosystem

Bitcoin.com has now announced it will not be going through with the original proposal for infrastructure funding until a greater agreement can be reached among ecosystem participants. In a post to the popular BCH discussion hub read.cash entitled Update on Developer Funding, Bitcoin.com clarifies:

As it stands now, Bitcoin.com will not go through with supporting any plan unless there is more agreement in the ecosystem such that the risk of a chain split is negligible.

Though the Bitcoin.com mining pool was one of five major groups in support of the move initially, contentious discussion and debate erupted as individuals from all backgrounds and degrees of BCH ecosystem involvement weighed in emphatically on the matter. Read.cash quickly became the go-to place for influential voices to support, question, or outright oppose the plan, with some whales throwing heavy support in the form of BCH rewards to authors.

Bitcoin.com maintains that “Protocol development in Bitcoin Cash is an important temporary phase to prepare for global adoption and as such, a funding proposal must be temporary.” Stating that the goal is “global, fast, reliable digital cash” the post concludes by assuring readers that any proposal putting this goal at risk needs to be reworked.

“Bitcoin.com will not risk a chain split or a change to the underlying economics,” the update notes. “In order to do this, any proposal will need to have as many people of economic weight on-board as possible, including businesses, exchanges, miners, and Bitcoin Cash implementations.”

Opposing Viewpoints Receive Significant Funding on Read.cash

Read.cash user and vocal BCH community member im_uname found their post, Assessment and proposal re: the Bitcoin Cash infrastructure funding situation, heavily rewarded on the platform, racking up over $1,000 for expressing doubts about the initial plan and suggesting an alternative implementation. Though $1,000 came from a single voter, user MarcDeMesel, the post’s reaction helped to solidify read.cash as an up-and-coming hub for BCH debate and discussion.

Im_uname writes: “Just six large holders each with 100,000 BCH can contribute $1 million each, 3% of their holdings each, and the mining tax proposal’s amount will be matched. They can do it every year and still come out with a huge profit, assuming the scaling benefits propel BCH to match today’s ETH market capitalization several years later.”

Commenter Big-Bubbler added some counterpoint beneath the article, emphasizing that the shock at miners deciding to make the proposed move was somewhat unwarranted. “When the miners and the developers team up to do something they think is good for the currency they do have massive power. Pretending they do not is the normal thinking strategy we use on a daily basis, but, it was never true.”

Straddling the fence of the contention was another $1,000 post (also heavily upvoted by account MarcDeMesel) on Read.cash. Entitled 7 Impolite Thoughts on the Developer Fund, the article by user Steve-Patterson notes that while unsure of the proposal for various reasons,

One way or another, this proposed development fund will end up being a good thing. The BCH community has finally been shaken out of its slumber. There are real philosophical disagreements in our community that need to be sorted out.

Patterson warns against what he sees as a potential path toward becoming “Bitcoin Core 2.0” due to centralized and unscrupulous attempts by prominent developers to grab power.

Weighing in at a whopping $2,220.62 reward at press time, a third article has now been amended in light of Bitcoin.com’s recent announcement. The post, uploaded by user shadow-kwh, claims to be the voice of a “group of North American and European miners representing, at this point in time, 1.6 exahash/s.” The poster notes: “We will represent 2.5 exahash/s come May 2020 due to expansion amongst our companies.”

The now struck-through article is emphatic in asserting that mining pools and miners should be differentiated, and that the proposed plan might lead to a loss of hash power which could endanger BCH. The post originally culminates with a reiteration that these miners have their “back against the wall.” In addressing another aspect of the discussion, shadow-kwh linked to another popular post on the platform by Bitcoin Unlimited’s Peter Rizun, which states:

Although the service fee would create a reliable and stable mechanism to transfer money from investors to select developers, such a protocol change comes with great cost. It redefines who owns new coinbases.

Commenters on Rizun’s post labored over what they viewed as important distinctions between miners, mining pools, and foundational protocol change versus voluntary action.

The Discussion Marches On

With Bitcoin.com’s announcement of stepping back from the plan for now, many in the community seem relieved to have a bit of respite to regroup, rethink, and begin to better organize proposals for infrastructure funding more seriously, and perhaps more focused and resolute thanks to the seismic jarring the announcement gave to the space.

The following days, weeks and months will be interesting to watch unfold, especially as the halving approaches. Debate is sure to continue unabated, and much of it will likely be taking place on Read.cash.

What do you think about Bitcoin.com’s announcement regarding the developer funding proposal? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, fair use.

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