How BIP Bounties Will Supercharge The Bitcoin Network

This is an sentiment editorial by Ariel Deschapell, co-founder of multi-cloud hosting level Hydra Host, elder chap astatine Lincoln Network and a squad subordinate astatine BIPBounty.org.

The thought that Bitcoin lacks innovation compared to different cryptocurrencies is pervasive, but is it true?

The Bitcoin protocol undergoes important changes overmuch much dilatory than different cryptocurrencies, the latest, of course, being the implementation and activation of Taproot. But this is simply a feature, not a bug.

As the instauration of a monolithic open-source ecosystem, changes should beryllium good thought retired and should consistently show wide statement that the benefits of the alteration outweigh costs. While existent and mostly accepted, this enactment of reasoning tin besides beryllium a bull out. It’s important to admit the necessity of consensus, but we indispensable deliberation profoundly astir what statement means, however it is achieved and however we could perchance amended upon however it happens.

Overall, the thought that slow improvement is simply a amended signifier is simply an atrocious heuristic and a mendacious dichotomy. The options disposable to the Bitcoin community’s protocol improvement are infinitely much varied and nuanced than simply “slow” oregon “fast.” Careful, comprehensive, deliberate, inclusive; each of these adjectives bash a overmuch amended occupation of describing what the Bitcoin assemblage should really purpose to facilitate. This explicit wording is important, for immoderate values we subscribe to volition beryllium utilized to justice initiatives and efforts, and the lone aspiring perfect worse than dilatory is apt fast.

The elemental transition of clip does thing connected its ain to guarantee a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) receives much eyeballs, reviews, superior information oregon engagement. It besides does thing to guarantee that the developer assemblage is focusing its finite efforts and attraction connected the close areas.

The Proper Framing

If we question to support innovation successful the Bitcoin community, the easiest mode to bash truthful would beryllium to constituent astatine the genuinely expansive assemblage of continuous probe and improvement successful the bitcoin-dev mailing group and different forums of method accusation exchange. It is undeniable that Bitcoin boasts a immense mindshare of world-class programmers, cryptographers, mathematicians, economists and more. These individuals proceed to wrestle with pivotal problems, specified arsenic implementing greater degrees of privacy, and scaling the greater Bitcoin web to planetary throughput without losing the precise characteristics that marque it Bitcoin.

This assemblage is delightfully and intentionally unstructured and informal. There exists nary standardized process by which immoderate thought oregon connection graduates to becoming included successful Bitcoin. The lone mode for a connection to scope eventual inclusion is to person the extended attention, enactment and consequent enactment from the assemblage required to bash so. From the probe and investigation required to person the assemblage that the benefits importantly outweigh the costs, to the breakdowns and connection indispensable to motivate the wider ecosystem to upgrade bundle and hole usage cases, to the existent enactment of finalizing and implementing the codification itself.

Maintaining and supercharging this process is essential, and portion it volition ever beryllium slower than a standardized and formalized strategy successful a comparative sense, determination is ever country for betterment to marque it hap much efficaciously connected its ain terms.

Fixing Incentives

The knee-jerk impulse to combat against immoderate assertion that the Bitcoin improvement process is not ideal, oregon that it tin payment from improvement, is usually based connected the implicit presumption that immoderate effort to amended it needfully means adding much centralization and control. However, this is acold from true. Just arsenic the Lightning Network debunked the assertion that expanding transacting scalability necessitated expanding the artifact size.

Similarly, BIP bounties are an effort astatine improving the incentives driving Bitcoin improvement and statement building. Administered by the Lincoln Network, a nonprofit enactment focused connected fostering technologies that enactment quality liberty, BIPBounty.org collects donations to money standardized bounties earmarked for circumstantial BIPs. Although it lone lists 1 bounty astatine the moment, this operation is designed to execute the following:

• Through taxation deductions, it incentivizes assemblage members and organizations to amusement involvement successful and fiscal enactment for proposals by putting their wealth wherever their mouths are.
• It gives the open-source Bitcoin improvement assemblage beardown comparative signals regarding which areas the assemblage is astir funny in, and which person higher imaginable fiscal ROI for them to attune their focus.
• The bounty options for BIPs are designed to determination the shot guardant connected factual deliverables, representing the inputs indispensable for the assemblage to travel to statement (or not) connected immoderate peculiar proposal. This includes written reviews, investigation and assorted classes of bug oregon vulnerability discoveries.
• It does each of the supra successful an opt-in and non-centralizing mode that maintains the tone of the Bitcoin project. Many developers whitethorn not wage immoderate peculiar involvement to bounties, and that’s good too.

Beginning With BIP119

BIPBounty.org sprang retired arsenic a conception from the BIP119 controversy. In December 2021, the BIP’s author, Jeremy Rubin, placed a bug bounty connected his ain BIP via Twitter.

Very quickly, different supporters of the BIP threw successful their hats and offered their ain complimentary bounties. The full bounty magnitude rapidly snowballed. That this happened wholly spontaneously and organically was a tremendous motion of pent-up assemblage willingness and request to dedicate fiscal resources to determination the shot guardant connected sermon and consensus.

Naturally, BIPBounty.org has begun with the BIP119 bounties, but arsenic a task it has nary aims successful regards to immoderate circumstantial BIP. Its extremity is to encompass each BIPs and let the Bitcoin assemblage itself to determine which proposals are of greater involvement and worthy of their taxation deductible contributions.

Getting Started

BIPBounty.org is caller and is attempting to tackle an ambitious problem. The proposal by which we volition measure our efforts is that determination is assemblage involvement for specified an endeavor beyond a one-time involvement successful the discourse of a azygous BIP. By enabling that, we tin sustainably accelerate probe and improvement deliverables and sermon crossed BIPs.

All of this requires assemblage buy-in and engagement. And astir important astatine this aboriginal signifier is feedback. To that end, we astatine Lincoln Network anticipation that the champion and brightest of the Bitcoin assemblage volition proceed to prosecute with america and assistance america successful our efforts to thrust effective, collaborative and sustainable Bitcoin development.

This is simply a impermanent station by Ariel Deschapell. Opinions expressed are wholly their ain and bash not needfully bespeak those of BTC Inc oregon Bitcoin Magazine.