Complacency within the Bitcoin community poses a significant risk, stifling its growth. The debate over ossification versus continuous innovation raises questions about preserving Bitcoin's core properties while adapting to new challenges. Lessons from past protocol changes urge caution, contrasting Bitcoin's decentralized model with alternative systems. Centralized rollups present self-custody complexities, yet Check Template Verification could enhance the Lightning Network. Ultimately, understanding Bitcoin's role as money is crucial, as is validating new tools before they are integrated.
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insights INSIGHT
Ossification and Evolution
Bitcoin ossification is the slowdown in protocol evolution due to growing network mass.
Continual evolution is key to Bitcoin's long-term value, unlike inert physical gold.
insights INSIGHT
Learning from Protocol History
Bitcoin's 15-year history includes many upgrades, making it premature to stop now.
Ossification could lead to complex layers with bugs, like SMTP.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Base Layer Upgrades
Prioritize base layer upgrades for features like covenants and vaults over hacky overlays.
These upgrades unlock new design space and improve Lightning Network efficiency.
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"Ossification is complacency. Yes, we all agree that Bitcoin is great. But _I do not agree_ that Bitcoin has reached its full potential. I think complacency is one of the greatest threats to Bitcoin - we must not rest upon our laurels." — Lopp
How should we frame the debate between ossification vs continuous development and planning for future soft forks of the Bitcoin protocol? Is there a clear and obvious path that can be argued for, or is there something else at play that limits both sides of the debate, possibly presenting a false dichotomy that can be overcome? We dive into a great article laying out the perspective of bitcoin OG, Jameson Lopp, followed by a short take by Aaron Von Wirdum before Guy's take to pull it all together.
To change Bitcoin, or to not change Bitcoin? Is that really the question?
Check out the original article by Jameson Lopp at "On Ossification" (Link:https://blog.lopp.net/on-ossification/)
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