Doc Brown explains the only timeline that takes Bitcoin back to the future.
Doc Brown: Marty! Marty! I just got back from 2047 and there's no economy at all! No Fiat. No crypto. Not even Bitcoin!
Marty: Woah! Doc! That's heavy...
Doc Brown: Marty! Something's got to be done!
Marty: Why, Doc? What happened?
Doc Brown: There's been a fork in the space-time continuum. Somebody designated a block in the Bitcoin blockchain as being somehow special. Everybody took their bitcoins off the exchanges and held their private keys in a wallet that they personally control so that a snapshot could be taken of who owned which bitcoins. Now that ledger is portable. Bitcoins can be implemented on multiple platforms at the same time. It's unprecedented in all of human history!
'
Marty: That sounds like it ought to be good...
Doc Brown: NO! Marty! Don't you see? That only works if there's a platform that DOES implement Bitcoin and IS capable of scaling fast enough to get past the Great Crash of 2018! None of them do both! And when all the government fiat currencies collapse next year, there will be nothing to handle the massive flight to safety! All the world's wealth will just go "POOF!"
Marty: Doc, you're scaring me here...
Doc Brown: Listen, Marty, take a look at this simplified electrical schematic. (I'm sorry I didn't have time to wire up a scale model with working lights and switches...)
Marty: That's ok, Doc.
Doc Brown: This diagram shows a line of switches for each potential Bitcoin host platform. For that platform to still be hosting Bitcoin in 2047, all the switches in that platform's row have to be turned on.
Bitcoin Classic is out because it's already proven it can't handle current loads. Bitcoin is so backlogged you have to pay dollars to bribe the miners to process your transactions quickly. So everybody agrees its switch X is off. It's mining node operators (switch D) are just going to turn it off intentionally.
Bitcoin SEGWIT is all funded and built and they've decided to turn it on when they turn off Bitcoin-Classic. But it will never scale to handle next year's crisis. So its Switch X is off even though no one admits it. That's the real elephant in the room.
Bitcoin Cash is also funded and built and others have decided to turn it on at the same time. This is going to cause all kinds of transients in the market for nothing because it still can't scale near enough for next year. It may double BTC-Classic's throughput a couple of times from 7 to maybe 28 transactions per second but we'll need credit card transaction levels of bandwidth -- tens of thousands of transactions per second when the crisis hits. So Bitcoin Cash's Switch X is off too, and no one is calling them on it either.
Bitcoin Ether isn't even being thought about, so there's no funding, implementors or executors. It only handles maybe 28 transactions per second itself, so why bother? It already chokes up every time they try to do an ICO. All of its switches are off. It's dead in the water as a way to rescue everybody's bitcoins.
Bitcoin United would run on the BitShares network. Its the only one that can scale beyond hundreds of thousands of transactions per second in time. It's the only one that can run in real time with 3 second blocks. And its the only one that can do that while implementing a stable, inflation proof smartcoin like the Hero. BitShares is perfect for this job, but it won't help either.
Marty: What are you talking about Doc? The Bitcoin-United light is on in 2047! Why isn't that all we need!
Doc Brown: NO! Marty! Don't you see? It's only on because I drew this diagram with switches B, C, and D on in that row to show you the only workable end state! Those lights are not really on yet in this timeline! We've got to make sure they are!
Marty: But, Doc!
Doc Brown: Marty, Listen to me! If we don't get somebody to fund, implement, and execute a BitShares Pitch Fork to adopt and rescue Bitcoin before 2018 the implications for this planet will be catastrophic! Look at this Sports Almanac! There are no sports events of any kind after mid 2018. Everything just stops!
Marty: But that doesn't mean we have to be making a big stink and go spooking the market's right now Doc. I mean, why can't we take another snapshot later in the year, like in November or something, after we've had time to break it to them easy like. Maybe somebody else will think of something...
Doc Brown: No other block will work, Marty, because people won't have their keys in their own wallets off the exchanges. And after the BCC fork in August there will be TWO Bitcoins. We can't rescue them both. Marty, this is our only chance!
Marty: Well, I don't see any way we can do it Doc. I mean, where are we going to get that kind of support? I just don't think I could deal with that kind of rejection!
Doc Brown: Don't worry Marty, I have a plan...
Stan Larimer, President
Cryptonomex
The Godfather of BitShares, Bitcoin United, and the HERO
Image credits: see embedded links
About the Author -- Stan Larimer
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Greatest Hits
Bitcoin and the Three Laws of Robotics
Engineering Trust with Charles Hoskinson
The Origin of BitShares
The Hero from BitShares Island
