Entries tagged with this topic. Spans across types and sources — explore connections between people, events, and themes.
26 entries
Wrote BIP 1, the document that defined the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal process. Founded libbitcoin and Dark Wallet. In 2015 he left Bitcoin to fight ISIS in Syria, was arrested, and never charged.
Defines the original version-bits mechanism for signaling and activating soft forks in parallel via the block nVersion field, using median-time-past thresholds and a fixed timeout.
Specifies a version-bits soft fork activation mechanism using block heights instead of timestamps, adding a flag that can guarantee lock-in before a timeout height.
Proposes hashrate-escrow sidechains: six OP_RETURN messages (M1-M4) for sidechain proposal and withdrawal-bundle voting, plus M5/M6 deposit and withdrawal transactions governed by miner ACKs.
No supply cap, a fee burn that can push issuance negative, and a 2022 switch from mining to staking — Ethereum's own design documents, read against Bitcoin's fixed 21 million.
A 45 billion cap, Ouroboros proof-of-stake, and governance split across three organizations — Cardano's own design documents, read against the numbers that marked its launch.
No block-size limit, one company's reference client, and five 51%-attack reorgs in a single year — Bitcoin SV's design record, measured against the 'original protocol' it set out to restore.
A relay chain coordinating parachains, nominated proof-of-stake, and the 2025 vote that capped a decade of roughly-10-percent issuance -- Polkadot's design, read against Bitcoin's fixed 21 million.
A consensus mechanism built on its own clock, an issuance rate that keeps shrinking without a cap, and a supply that started with a premine to the foundation and its investors.
A fiat-collateralized design CENTRE named as a trade-off in its own whitepaper, a reserve that broke the dollar peg for two days in 2023, and a governing consortium later folded into one company.
Ethereum's first CEO, removed in 2014, who built Cardano on the opposite design choices. His verdict on Bitcoin moved from "worth a Turing prize" to "a religion, not an ecosystem".
Internet entrepreneur who founded Circle and launched USDC in 2018. Built the largest regulated dollar stablecoin while publicly arguing that Bitcoin's value is its non-sovereignty.
Twelve chains, sorted by what each one's issuance rule settles about the price of a single unit — and by how much of that price the rule never touches.
Weighing the 'Blockstream controls Bitcoin' charge against the documentary record: where it comes from, and how each link in the chain holds up.
Cross-cutting reading of Bitcoin's 2015–2017 block-size war by phase, faction, and turning point: Bitcoin XT, BIP148 UASF, the New York Agreement, Bitcoin Cash, SegWit2x cancellation.
Bitcoin's 'digital gold' status rests on two layers of decentralization — system and people/organization — and six structural features no later cryptocurrency combines to the same degree.
Where Bitcoin's current reality has drifted from Satoshi's design intent: four axes — mining (one-CPU-one-vote to ASIC oligopoly), custody (own keys to exchange IOUs), governance, and scaling.
Why Bitcoin's 2015-2017 fork wars ran as identity contests, not OSS disputes: the post-2011 authority vacuum, the economic weight on rule choices, and the three layers that bound code to currency.
Mike Hearn and Gavin Andresen released Bitcoin XT 0.11A, a Bitcoin Core fork implementing BIP 101 — 8 MB blocks doubling every two years. The launch opened the public phase of the block-size war.
Bitcoin Cash forked from Bitcoin at block 478558, mined by ViaBTC around 12:37 UTC. The 8 MB, no-SegWit chain became the first protocol fork to leave a lasting separate network.
Mike Belshe suspended the SegWit2x hard fork on the mailing list, about a week before the planned 2 MB activation at block 494784. The New York Agreement collapsed without a chain split.
Editorial reading of how the 2014 'Bitcoin Core' rebrand reshaped Bitcoin's authority vocabulary — PR #3408 internal disagreement, the 2015-2017 fork episodes, and Hearn's 2025 retrospective regret.
Dutch developer (handle laanwj). Built the original bitcoin-qt GUI; succeeded Gavin Andresen as Bitcoin Core lead maintainer (April 2014 - August 2022); withdrew merge privileges in February 2023.
Mike Hearn published The Resolution of the Bitcoin Experiment, declaring Bitcoin had failed due to governance breakdown and the block-size stalemate. He sold all his coins and left the project.
In a CoinGeek interview, Mike Hearn offers rare reflections on Satoshi's personality — observing he enjoyed experimenting but appeared to grow frustrated when evangelical personalities arrived.
The foundational BIP defining the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal process itself, modeled after Python's PEP. Three types: Standards Track, Informational, Process.