Drivechains in Bitcoin Could Enhance Higher Throughput and Improved Privacy: Bitfinex CTO

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Jimmy Aki

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Jimmy Aki

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Jimmy has nearly 10 years of experience as a journalist and writer in the blockchain industry. He has worked with well-known publications such as Bitcoin Magazine, CCN, and Blockonomi, covering news...

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October 23, 2023

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Bitfinex’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Paolo Ardoino, stated in a recent exclusive interview with The Block that drivechains within the Bitcoin network have the potential to be a “game changer.”

This statement comes amidst the ongoing debate surrounding the Bip-300 proposal.

Ardoino cited that drivechains have the needed capabilities to change the concepts of Bitcoin since they aspire to enhance throughput, improve privacy, and simplify complex smart contracts. 

The idea of drivechains was introduced to improve the functionality of Bitcoin’s networks by allowing the creation of sidechains, which are separate blockchains anchored to the main Bitcoin blockchain. 

The Bitcoin network can have

Faster Block Times..

Improved Privacy..

Complex smart contracts..

With the help of Bitcoin Drivechains

—————————————-

Drivechains are inherent, merge-mined sidechain systems designed for Bitcoin, necessitating a… pic.twitter.com/uVGYUmx7XI

— Hercules | DeFi (@Hercules_Defi) October 18, 2023

Ardoino believes the primary goal of drivechains is to enable the development and deployment of various features and applications that can interact with Bitcoin while maintaining its security and decentralization.

According to him, drivechains would require a change to the Bitcoin network to have throughput and privacy enhancement on Bitcoin. 

Developers Debate on BIP-300 Reignites

Layer 2 Labs Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Paul Sztorc, introduced the concept of drivechains via Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 300.

The proposal outlines a native sidechain mechanism for Bitcoin, enabling trustless bridging of BTC to distinct chains.

The proposed Bitcoin enhancement is currently sparking heated discussions on social platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and has become a source of controversy among developers and enthusiasts worldwide. 

Some see it as a way to solidify Bitcoin’s dominance among cryptocurrencies, while others are concerned it may open the door to shitcoins.

The more I read about BIP300, the more it seems like a great way to introduce enormous amounts of grift, complexity, risk and shitcoinesque functionality into the bitcoin codebase.

Not a fan.

And that's on top of my main sentiment that we should be extremely wary of any change.

— hodlonaut 80 IQ 10%er 🌮⚡🔑 🐝 (@hodlonaut) August 27, 2023

Drivechains creation of sidechains is secured through blind merge mining, enabling existing Bitcoin miners to secure other blockchains without operating the sidechain’s software. 

These networks could be created with alternative functionality developers want while inheriting Bitcoin’s security and native token. 

Sztorc believes sidechains could be the holy grail upgrade to Bitcoin and allow the creation of better features on the network. 

However, developers within the Bitcoin community are wary of change and the motives of anyone supporting it. 

#Bitcoin rough consensus is beautiful.

Almost 15yrs in, and several soft forks along the way, and we **still do not know** the process for forming, agreeing to, and activating consensus changes.

Feature, not a bug.

Nobody is in control, and that is the whole point.

— _Checkmate 🟠🔑⚡☢️🛢️ (@_Checkmatey_) August 28, 2023

Saifedan Ammous, a dedicated advocate of Bitcoin, has expressed skepticism regarding drivechains, viewing them as a thinly-veiled attempt to introduce assets akin to Ethereum’s ecosystem. 

People only think tokens are a good idea because we live in a world of broken money. A good money is the only token anyone ever needs. Bitcoin is going to detokenize the world. https://t.co/q8Nhc7XcOX

— Saifedean Ammous (@saifedean) August 28, 2023

He remains unconvinced of their utility. Contrarily, he argues that BIP-300 doesn’t necessitate a new asset but can be harnessed for BTC-centric purposes, such as private and scalable transactions.

Through one upgrade, drivechains could foster future developments to run on Bitcoin. 

What the plebs don't seem to get (yet) is that drivechains enables all upgrades to Bitcoin, the ones we know about and the future ones that we didn't even think about yet. https://t.co/QoA80xsPKT

— angor-crowdfunding-bitcoin (@dangershony) July 28, 2023

Nevertheless, most developers are critical of drivechains technicality, notable for their integrated peg-out mechanism. 

Ardoino’s latest comments on the drivechains’ potential upgrade to Bitcoin are expected to reignite a new wave of debates in the coming days, which may be a paradigm for future innovations.