The Bitcoin community is once again engaged in a heated debate over a six-year-old Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) to introduce “sidechains” on top of the Bitcoin network. BIP-300, also known as Bitcoin Drivechains, was first proposed in 2017 by Paul Sztorc, founder of Drivechain development firm LayerTwo Labs. The proposal suggests introducing separate blockchains on top of the Bitcoin network, allowing BTC to move onto them and create altcoins. The debate was reignited recently when Bitcoin core developer Luke Dashjr rewrote the proposal’s code and requested its addition to Bitcoin’s codebase.
BIP-300 requires a soft fork of Bitcoin, activated by miners, similar to the Taproot soft fork in November 2021. However, Maxim Orlovsky, CEO of blockchain scaling solutions project Pandora, claimed to have created a two-way peg on Bitcoin without a soft fork, using an oracle to validate a sidechain. Details on Orlovsky’s alternative are yet to be released.
Proponents of BIP-300, including Sztorc, argue that Drivechains will enable users to select a blockchain security model they agree with and determine how they want their Bitcoin to function. Sztorc claimed the proposal has “enormous upside” with “literally zero downside.” However, critics, including Cory Klippsten of Swan Bitcoin and Pierre Rochard of Riot Platforms, argue that Drivechains would increase scams on Bitcoin and that the proposal relies on speculative economic arguments rather than substantive engineering ones.
Supporters of BIP-300, such as Dan Held, argue that Bitcoin benefits from more speculative assets as they introduce new audiences to Bitcoin. Jameson Lopp, co-founder of Bitcoin wallet provider Casa, expressed that he has not seen a convincing concern about how sidechains could be dangerous to the main Bitcoin blockchain.
The ongoing debate highlights the diverse opinions within the Bitcoin community and the challenges faced when proposing changes to the network. Ultimately, the decision to implement sidechains or any other modification will require broad consensus among stakeholders.
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