Hoskinson Has a Few Recommendations for Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
May 6, 2018 by William Peaster
The @Bitcoin Twitter account just re-invoked the scaling debate, having publicly declared once more that Bitcoin Cash — not “Bitcoin Core” — is the “oldest cryptocurrency.” IOHK’s Charles Hoskinson, a co-creator of Ethereum and Cardano, offered a few potential technical considerations in response.
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@Bitcoin: BTC ‘Experimental Currency’
The debate began as the BCH-aligned @Bitcoin again asserted on Twitter that bitcoin cash was the real heir to Satoshi Nakamoto’s original cryptocurrency vision.
Bitcoin Cash is the oldest cryptocurrency. Its white paper was published in 2008 and the genesis block mined in January 2009.
Bitcoin Core (BTC) is an experimental currency that does not have a white paper and has only operated under its current model for two years. pic.twitter.com/YBeepJlwC5
— Bitcoin (@Bitcoin) May 4, 2018
The tweet unsurprisingly set off a wave of disagreements and conversation in the crypto Twittersphere.
IOHK’s Charles Hoskinson, clearly piqued, decided to chime in with a little bit of “devil’s advocate” trolling:
Something tells me this one is a controversial tweet 🙂 so to counter troll why does bitcoin cash not call itself bitcoin and why doesn’t it have the majority of hash power? https://t.co/6DjuXGBqz2
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) May 5, 2018
Then, however, Hoskinson pivoted to a series of more technical and apparently more practical recommendations.
P2P Mining? ASIC Resistance? Scripting Language Update?
Going off the idea of “Satoshi’s vision” per @Bitcoin’s hailing of the Bitcoin whitepaper and interpretations of Satoshi’s written intentions, Hoskinson posited that peer-to-peer (P2P) mining pools and an ASIC-resistant Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm would be worth looking into for BCH’s devs:
Furthermore, if the goal is Satoshi’s vision, then why not embrace p2p mining pools and ASIC resistance so every day people can participate and hash power doesnt consolidate? https://t.co/6DjuXGBqz2
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) May 5, 2018
To that second point, it’s likely a reference to the early days of bitcoin, when Nakamoto had written things like “It’s nice how anyone with just a CPU can compete fairly equally right now” and “We should have a gentleman’s agreement to postpone the GPU arms race.”
Next, Hoskinson went on to add he’d be willing to help with peer-reviewed protocols aimed at stopping BCH mining centralization. He also noted the crypto’s scripting language and network stack could use facelifts:
I’m happy to design peer reviewed protocols for BCH to help mitigate mining centralization. Also would recommend upgrading your scripting language, network stack and other badly outdated parts while you’re at it https://t.co/6DjuXGBqz2
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) May 5, 2018
Whether in time these recommendations will be accepted or not by the Bitcoin Cash community remains to be seen. But they do offer some provocative food for thought in the interim.
What’s your take? Do you think Hoskinson’s recommendations would be well-placed or not needed in BCH? Sound off in the comments below.
Images via Forbes, YouTube
