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Bitcoin Amsterdam highlights hurdles for consensus over improvement proposals

October 19, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

The ongoing development of the Bitcoin protocol has long been a point of contention for the ecosystem, as was evident in historical events like the block size debate in 2017.

Bitcoin (BTC) core developers have long been at odds over improvement proposals (BIPs) to address pain-points of the protocol, as was evident in a heated panel during Bitcoin Amsterdam.

Long-time Bitcoin developers Paul Sztorc and Peter Todd brought this to the fore in Amsterdam, with the latter coming across as highly critical of Sztorc’s work in the ongoing development of Drivechains.

Sztorc’s LayerTwo Labs has been working on BIP-300 for nearly six years, which advocates for the creation of layer two sidechains that have the potential to address a number of problems without requiring base layer changes to the Bitcoin protocol.

The ensuing debate, which was at times heated with Todd talking over Sztorc, highlighted the difficulty in reaching a consensus over BIPs that could potentially improve the overall functionality of the Bitcoin protocol.

Jameson Lopp, co-founder and CTO of Bitcoin custody firm Casa, weighed in on the issue during an in-depth interview with Cointelegraph at the conference, saying that the velocity of improvements and protocol changes has slowed down more than he would have liked.

That has changed somewhat in recent weeks with the emergence of new projects like BitVM and SpiderChain as Lopp explains, which leads him to believe that a couple of proposed soft forks may well be beneficial to the future of the protocol:

“In general, I think that Bitcoin should implement functionality that will improve its ability to be what you could call a cryptographic accumulator. Bitcoin should enable functionality that will boost the ability of second layers.”

Lopp adds that any potential “hardcore ossification” that some maximalists have argued for in the past would have stifled innovation that led to the creation of solutions like the Lightning Network that has helped the Bitcoin network scale to better process transactions.

“Lightning wouldn't really be possible without OP_CLTV. It would have maybe been possible, but really clunky without SegWit. And without OP_CSV, it would not be possible to have indefinitely long-lived Lightning channels.”

Lopp was making reference to CHECKSEQUENCEVERIFY (OP_CSV) and CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY (OP_CLTV), two BIPs that were carried out to facilitate payment channels as soft forks. OP_CLTV was authored by Todd, describing a Bitcoin operation code that allows a transaction output to be made unspendable until some point in the future.

Lopp adds that while Bitcoin’s protocol may become static due to a lack of consensus over base layer improvement proposals, developers are likely to keep building in ways that don’t require permissions:

“If it's not possible to implement a solution that may be optimally implemented at the base layer at the base protocol, then generally what we see end up happening is solutions being kind of bolted-on in many cases.”

The Casa CTO believes that if Bitcoin does not continue to scale, users will inevitably turn to storing and using BTC through a “handful of Bitcoin banks, aka custodians and exchanges”, which comes with significant trade-offs:

“Then it's IOUs, right? That's not the future that I think any of us want to see.”

As Cointelegraph previously reported, Bitcoin proponents and analysts at Bitcoin Amsterdam 2023 highlighted the growing importance of the cryptocurrency's value proposal and hard money characteristics amid a drawn-out bear market.

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Magazine: Recursive inscriptions: Bitcoin ‘supercomputer’ and BTC DeFi coming soon

Aave v3 fork debuts noncustodial liquidity markets on Base

September 11, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Seamless Protocol, a fork of Aave v3 deployed on Base, enables smart contracts with predetermined borrowing strategies to conduct undercollateralized borrowing on-chain.

A collaboration across decentralized finance (DeFi) developers is introducing a non-custodial liquidity markets on layer-2 network Base, promising to enable trustless smart contracts to automatically connect liquidity pools with borrowing strategies.

Behind the initiative are developers from Seashell, RNG Labs, and Loreum Labs, along with advisers and collaborators from Ampleforth, Uniswap and other projects. The group built the Seamless Protocol, a fork of Aave v3 that allows smart contracts with predetermined borrowing strategies to conduct undercollateralized borrowing on-chain.

"As an analogy, Borrowing Strategies are like single-purpose loans, such as home, auto, or school loans — the supplier knows exactly where the liquidity is being used, and the borrower is unable to use it for different purposes,” a contributor for Seamless told Cointelegraph, referring to undercollateralized borrowing options.

Very excited to announce a collaborative partnership with @SeamlessFi

Seamless is a decentralized, non-custodial liquidity market that is launching on @BuildOnBase

Can't wait to see where this goes! Learn more about the partnership announcement https://t.co/Id9eVmDohs
— Seashell ( seashell.com Arbitrum Vaults) (@getSeashell) August 29, 2023

Undercollateralized borrowing isn't something new in the crypto space. Protocols such as Maple Finance offer capital to institutional and qualified investors via undercollateralized products. The process, however, requires a combination of off-chain and on-chain steps, meaning the user seeking capital will have terms negotiated with Maple’s team before a loan is issued on-chain.

“Many borrowers already know the purpose of the additional liquidity they seek, so Integrated Borrowing Strategies simply connects these steps together. Because the Borrowing Strategies are on-chain in smart contracts, the Liquidity Suppliers have full visibility into how the funds are used,” the protocol explained regarding its core strategy.

General purpose loans — such as personal loans that can be used for a variety of situations — are also integrated into the protocol, but are governed by the usual DeFi lending rules that require overcollateralization.

Seamless believes its solution is a better fit for DeFi than on-chain reputation scores or on-chain identities, such as WorldCoin's proof of personhood system. “[...] the only way to create conditions for undercollateralized borrowing would be within rails of a smart contract to smart contract system, which brings us back to the fundamentals of crypto and DeFi (trust code over humans),” a Seamless contributor said.

Magazine: Recursive inscriptions — Bitcoin ‘supercomputer’ and BTC DeFi coming soon

Polygon makes new sidechain developer stack opensource, supporting ZK-powered Layer 2s on Ethereum

September 1, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Chain Development Kit

Polygon’s Chain Development Kit allows developers to freely build, customize and deploy layer 2 chains connected to the wider Ethereum ecosystem.

The Ethereum (ETH) ecosystem could welcome a variety of new layer 2 (L2) protocols built on Polygon’s newly open sourced codebase Chain Development Kit, which harnesses zero-knowledge proof (ZK-proof) technology to ensure security and fast finality.

Jordi Baylina, technical lead of Polygon Hermez zkEVM, spoke to Cointelegraph exclusively about the new tool set which is publicly available on a Github repository:

“The motivating idea is simple: it should be easy and seamless for developers to launch a ZK-powered Layer 2 on Ethereum, tailored to the requirements of their project.”

Baylina added that a key aspect is that Polygon CDK enables automatic access to liquidity across all of Polygon’s chains as well as the wider Ethereum ecosystem, providing “on-demand scale, without fragmenting liquidity".

The Ethereum developer pointed to a number of different projects building CDK-powered chains across a variety of use cases, including from payment-specific L2s, DeFi, gaming, social-specific platforms, and creator or NFT platforms.

Baylina also highlighted the customizability of CDK for different appchains, featuring customizations for rollup or validium mode, zkEVM or another ZK-powered execution environment, various data availability solutions, native token and gas token customization, centralized or decentralized sequencer mode as well as permissioned networks with granular allowlists.

The importance of ZK-proof technology is another factor that Baylina stressed, highlighting Polygon Labs’ belief that zero-knowledge is the future of scaling Ethereum. As the Hermez zkEVM lead explains, chains launched with Polygon CDK are automatically connected to a shared ZK bridge and plugged into an “interop layer,” which is a cross-chain communication protocol.

“Suppose there are 1000s of chains in the Polygon ecosystem. It’s inefficient for each of these to submit their proofs directly to Ethereum. Instead, the interop layer will receive proofs from chains and submit a single ZK proof that proves the state of all Polygon chains.”

Baylina said the technology unlocks sub-minute cross-chain transactions and creates the perception of a single chain environment.

Cointelegraph also queried the key differences between CDK and other Ethereum ecosystem programming languages like Zk-proof pioneers StarkWare’s Cairo codebase.

Baylina explains that the architecture unlocked by Polygon CDK is different in that it enables automatic access to shared liquidity through a ZK bridge and interop layer of an L2 ecosystem secured by working ZK-proofs.

He finished by reaffirming the belief in ZK-proofs as the future of Ethereum scalability given its fast finality and withdrawal times, when compared to week-long delay by fraud proofs that feature in Optimistic rollup L2 solutions.

“ZK makes better bridges, but also secures chains by rigorous math, without a need for social-economic components required by fraud proofs.”

Cointelegraph previously explored the Ethereum layer 2 ecosystem, unpacking the basics of Ethereum rollups and the different approaches to scaling the smart contract blockchain.

Magazine: Recursive inscriptions: Bitcoin ‘supercomputer’ and BTC DeFi coming soon

Coinbase CEO reveals top 10 crypto ideas he’s urging devs to work on

August 31, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Brian Armstrong

From flatcoins to on-chain advertisements, Brian Armstrong hopes aspiring developers take the time in the bear market to build out these crypto concepts.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has unveiled the ten ideas he is most excited about when it comes to crypto's future, sharing hopes that developers can use the bear market to take them to the next level.

On Aug. 30, the Coinbase boss shared his vision of a crypto future in a company blog post and presentation — sharing the concepts he believes have the potential to make it in the digital asset industry.

“I decided to share my 10 top ideas with the hope that someone goes out and builds them,” he said before adding, “Ideas are cheap.”

1/ I'm sharing the 10 ideas I'm most excited about in crypto right now. If you're building something in crypto or thinking about doing so - check it out.

We’re building lots at Coinbase, but we don't have time to tackle everything. So I figured I'd share these. Bear markets are… pic.twitter.com/XKzCkMaOOT
— Brian Armstrong ️ (@brian_armstrong) August 30, 2023

One of the first concepts he discussed was a “flatcoin” — a decentralized stablecoin that tracks inflation to preserve purchasing power, which could be backed by a basket of assets or use an algorithmic approach.

Armstrong cited services like Ampleforth and Truflation which "offer a way to potentially track inflation on-chain today, to further decentralize it."

He said something like this was necessary because people are reluctant to spend Bitcoin and fiat-backed stablecoins "suffer from inflation and seizure — just like fiat money."

Another concept was “on-chain reputation” — a system that assigns reputation scores to wallet addresses or ENS names based on on-chain activity. It would be similar to Google’s PageRank and used for lending, ratings, and fraud prevention.

Armstrong also highlighted the potential of “onchain ads” — the Web3 version of adverts that would pay out based on on-chain actions as opposed to Web2 ads that are view or click-based. They could have smart contracts that can specify payouts and wallets that can choose which ads to show.

*Coinbase crypto concepts. Source: Coinbase.com*

“Onchain capital formation” — another idea — was described by Armstrong as a concept that democratizes fundraising, helping the next iteration of ICOs and startups raise money on-chain in a compliant and trusted way.

Armstrong acknowledged the ICO frenzy happened for a reason stating, “capital formation globally is still way too high friction,” before adding:

“Democratizing fundraising could unlock tremendous latent entrepreneurial energy across the world.”

Armstrong was also hopeful for a marketplace for crypto jobs and tasks, which could help people find crypto jobs globally, allowing jobs to pay in crypto and removing cross-border payment friction. Coinbase recently partnered with X (formerly Twitter) to launch a jobs posting feature.

Coinbase is thrilled to partner with @X on the launch of a shiny new hiring feature - directly in our profile. Explore job opportunities while you scroll @X on mobile, desktop, and beyond. #LiveCrypto #NowHiring pic.twitter.com/s2SHlXpMEt
— Coinbase ️ (@coinbase) August 29, 2023

Armstrong’s sixth idea was “privacy for layer 2,” which brings private transactions to L2 instead of having them only on public blockchains.

“There are many cases where transparency is a feature, but people do not want most transactions in the economy to be public,” he said.

Other ideas included a fully on-chain peer-to-peer exchange, on-chain games with asset ownership and more real-world asset tokenization.

On-chain games are already a live concept in crypto that lets players truly own in-game assets as NFTs, creating economies and metaverse worlds. Real-world asset tokenization — such as stocks, commodities, real estate, and other assets is also already used around the world

A recent report from Boston Consulting Group expected the tokenization of illiquid assets to grow into a multi-trillion-dollar sector over the next few years.

Armstrong’s final idea was “Software for Network States” which are tools to help startup cities and communities manage governance, voting, taxes, and services, on-chain.

“In five years, many entrepreneurs will be looking back wishing they had started a crypto company in 2023,” he said before concluding “Bear markets are for building.”

Coinbase has been gearing up for its inaugural Coinbase Ventures Builder Summit in California in October and Armstrong’s recent public appearance could be an attempt to spark interest for it.

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Web3 startups queue up: Consensys Startup Program partners with Cointelegraph Accelerator

August 2, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain

Cointelegraph Accelerator participants will get a headstart with Consensys’ Web3 solutions, including MetaMask, Infura and Linea zkEVM.

The transition from Web2 to Web3 is reshaping the technology landscape and attracting the attention of developers. Despite the challenges faced during the current crypto winter, the Web3 ecosystem continued to onboard new developers, with many thousands of developers making the jump from Web2 to Web3.

However, developers working with Web3 and blockchain technology can face numerous issues if they lack the proper knowledge, infrastructure and tools. Web3 teams need assistance developing in a complex environment without introducing vulnerabilities into their smart contracts that could lead to security breaches, such as hacks and exploits.

The number of active Web3 developers is rising. Source: Electric Capital.

The number of active Web3 developers is rising. Source: Electric Capital.

To avoid these potential setbacks, Web3 startups are seeking support from established industry players. Blockchain and web3 software company Consensys offers developers and enterprises around the globe a range of tools to create applications on Web3, deploy financial infrastructures, and connect with decentralized networks. Among these tools is MetaMask, one of the most widely used hot self-custody wallets in the industry, which surpassed 100 million users in 2022.

A match made in heaven for Web3

In the summer of 2022, Consensys launched its Startup Program that aims at working with leading early stage ventures and support them on their path to becoming unicorns while having access to Consensys entire product stack. Consensys’ commitment to support startups aligns with the goals of the Cointelegraph Accelerator, which is to increase the visibility and success of promising Web3 products.

Cointelegraph and Consensys announced a new partnership in June 2023 to support early-stage companies in the space by combining Consensys’ software infrastructure with Cointelegraph’s media presence. The aim is to provide blockchain startups with a suite of powerful tools to drive their development and make significant strides in the web3 space.

By joining Consensys's Startup Program, Web3 startup accelerators gain exclusive access to a variety of proprietary software products. These encompass the Linea zK-Rollup Protocol, Infura, Diligence Fuzzing. MetaMask is also on the roadmap for the future. In addition, startups are granted access to comprehensive technical consulting, learning services, and potential investment, benefits and marketing opportunities.

On the other side of the partnership, Cointelegraph’s Accelerator will play a pivotal role in elevating the visibility of these blockchain startups by crafting strategic boosting and media campaigns. The Accelerator will provide startups with the stage to reach the right web3 audience. Furthermore, Cointelegraph will assist with marketing strategy development and provide access to their extensive network of investors, market makers, and tech providers. The program offers flexible payment options for its services.

Alex Greinacher, Director of the Program at Consensys, said:

“The idea of the partnership is that the startups have access to our combined Web3 expertise. This creates a truly leading offer for startups. Together we can cover all relevant areas that builders require for success. Among them we have tech infrastructure, media, consulting, marketing, support, access to funding, learning and enablement, partner credits and more.”

The partnership will provide participants of both programs fast-track access to partner’s program, joint educational products and workshops and also special terms for use of partners’ services and infrastructure. Built by the two leading organizations within the crypto and blockchain space, the partnership brings forth a fail-safe route to Web3 innovation for promising startups.

Projects integrated in joining the Consensys Startup Program can get in touch via startups@consensys.net. Projects interested in learning more about the Cointelegraph Accelerator can visit the official page and fill out an application via the webform.

UK court grants appeal from Craig Wright in Bitcoin rights lawsuit

July 21, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin Core

The decision reverses a prior ruling, allowing Craig Wright to appeal a lawsuit claiming copyright to the Bitcoin white paper and database.

A British court granted an appeal on July 20 that gave Craig Wright the right to argue in litigation that the Bitcoin file format is well-defined enough to qualify for copyright protection.

Wright, who since 2016 has claimed to be the inventor of Bitcoin (BTC), launched a lawsuit against 13 Bitcoin Core developers and a group of companies, including Blockstream, Coinbase and Block, alleging violation of his copyright to the Bitcoin white paper, its file format and database rights to the Bitcoin blockchain.

The decision reversed a ruling from February that considered Wright’s arguments insufficient to show how the Bitcoin file format was first recorded, a concept known as fixation in copyright law.

“The Claimants may consider themselves unlucky to have had their application for leave to serve out come before a Judge with at least some understanding of the technology involved here," reads the decision from February, refusing permission to appeal. With this week’s reversal, Wright reopens the discussion on the case.

In a tweet on July 20, Wright wrote, without mentioning the decision: “The legal protection of intellectual property is necessary to ensure the rights of creators and innovators and to encourage the production of new ideas, inventions, and creative works."

*England and Wales Court of Appeal's decision on July 20. Source: BAILII*

The Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund (BLDF), the developers’ legal representative, argues that Wright hasn’t been able to prove that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of the Bitcoin white paper and database.

“Wright has claimed to be Satoshi since at least 2016 without providing a shred of evidence to back up this claim," BLDF noted in a statement, adding that Wright must prove to be Satoshi Nakamoto “before the courts can make a decision on the three primary claims named in the lawsuit." The case is expected to go to trial in early 2024.

The Bitcoin code is open-sourced and freely distributed under the Massachusetts Institute of Technology license, meaning that users have the right to reuse the code for any purpose, including in proprietary software. Wright has argued, however, that the Bitcoin Core developers represent a “Bitcoin Partnership," allegedly a centralized entity that controls the Bitcoin network.

“They seem to be trying to muddy the waters and make it seem like Bitcoin development is a centralized process controlled by a few people, which is a key argument for their lawsuit," a spokesperson from BLDF told Cointelegraph.

According to BLDF, the fact that courts in the United Kingdom are allowing his arguments to be heard is extremely concerning — not just for the crypto community but for the whole world. “It sets a dangerous precedent where developers can be sued for violating the file format of open source software that someone else claims to have created," it said.

Magazine: Ordinals turned Bitcoin into a worse version of Ethereum — Can we fix it?

48% fewer new crypto coders last year – developer report

July 10, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Newcomers account for the highest percentage of developers that have left the industry over the past 12 months.

The number of new developers entering the cryptocurrency sector has dropped by nearly 50 percent over the past year, according to research from Electric Capital’s Developer Report.

The latest gauge of the state of the cryptocurrency developer ecosystem indicates that long-term coders that have worked in the industry for over a year commit more code and work more days than developers that have left.

According to the data, the cryptocurrency ecosystem has an estimated 21,300 monthly active open source developers as of June 1. The space has seen a 22% decline in the number of developers since June 2022.

The caveat is that developers that have exited the space are classified as “newcomers” that worked in the industry for less than a year. The impact of the departure of these developers was made less significant considering that they were responsible for less than 20% of all code commits over the past 12 months.

Long term cryptocurrency developers who’ve worked in the industry for more than a year are responsible for over 80% of committed code.

The Developer Report estimates that some 7,700 newcomer developers left the space since June 2022. Emerging developers that have worked in the industry for up to two years has increased by 1650 while established developers that have over two years of experience in the cryptocurrency space increase by 150.

The report notes that the decline in newcomer developers is due to fewer coders exploring work in the cryptocurrency space. This has been exacerbated by an ongoing bear market which has suppressed wider cryptocurrency markets.

Source: Electric Capital Developer Report

The analysts also suggest that while 2023’s retention of new developers has been significantly less that 2022 and 2021, the trend is not “abnormal” across a longer time frame.

“If we look at cohort retention analysis starting from 2015, we see that developers who join during bear markets leave faster.”

Newcomer developers typically enter the cryptocurrency sector around market peaks. There was a 70% dominance of newcomer developers six months after January 2018’s cryptocurrency market peak. This was followed by a 60% newcomer dominance in the six months following the November 2021 market all-time high.

Meanwhile emerging and established developers tend to dominate the sector when the cryptocurrency space enters bear market territory.

The second half of 2022 saw a spate of layoffs across the cryptocurrency industry as companies looked to downsize in response to tough market conditions. The industry then saw a decline in layoffs from February 2023, according to market research conducted by Cointelegraph.

Collect this article as an NFT to preserve this moment in history and show your support for independent journalism in the crypto space.

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UK Law Commission report challenges Craig Wright’s suit against Bitcoin developers

July 6, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

A report published by the UK Law Commission bolsters Bitcoin core developers' defense that they are not liable for 111,000 BTC taken by hackers.

A recent report released by the United Kingdom Law Commission could weaken a central argument brought by Craig Wright in his controversial lawsuit against 12 Bitcoin core developers, argues the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund (BLDF).

In a 300-page report on digital assets published in late June, the UK Law Commission — an independent body that reviews and recommends reforms to UK and Whales' laws — cited a classification of fiduciary duty that bolsters the developers' defense that they are not directly responsible for 111,000 Bitcoin (BTC) lost to hackers.

Wright, owner of Tulip Trading, claimed in a 2021 lawsuit that developers involved in the open-source development of Bitcoin Core owed him a fiduciary duty in connection with his loss. In order to recover the allegedly stolen funds, Wright is seeking a backdoor into the Bitcoin Core blockchain. Wright is also known for claiming he is Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

The bitcoin protocol was set in stone to create a system that is stable. Bitcoin is not a Cryptocurrency. By definition, Cryptocurrencies are anonymous and untraceable. Bitcoin is pseudonymous and traceable, it is digital cash.

Don't believe everything you see at first sight. pic.twitter.com/vPt4a0fEEx
— Dr Craig S Wright (@Dr_CSWright) May 30, 2023

The U.K. report sheds light on the definition of fiduciary duty, claiming that categories of fiduciary recognized by the law include "agents, trustees, partners, company directors, and solicitors." The report said fiduciary duty rarely exists outside these categories. According to the BLDF, the developers' legal representative, the defendants do not fit in any criteria mentioned by the Commission.

"They are not agents, trustees, partners, company directors, or solicitors, and they never 'undertook or were entrusted with authority to manage the property or make discretionary decisions on behalf of another person',” BLDF stated in a recent blog post, adding that "Bitcoin was created to facilitate transactions between individuals without the need to entrust any authority to a third party."

According to a definition by the University of Texas, fiduciary duty is the "legal responsibility to act solely in the best interest of another party." Common examples of fiduciary duties include undivided loyalty, due diligence, full disclosure of conflicts of interest, and confidentiality.

The Tulip Trading suit could set a case law for open-source developers' liability for assets, with a trial in the case expected to occur in 2024. During the Bitcoin 2023 conference in May, Jessica Jonas, BLDF's chief legal officer, noted that potential legal ramifications of the lawsuit could deeply affect the community of open-source developers, as 97% of the world's software programs are open-sourced.

The UK Law Commission report also pushed for the creation of a new and distinct category of personal property to accommodate the unique features of digital assets.

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Developers