As we all know that things are evolving with Bitcoin technology that should be observed with concern. Although these changes would affect only a little the short-term price movements, Yet they could bring about a significant change in Bitcoin’s long-term value proposition.
There are two important things to especially pay attention to when new development for funding source was announced, and a visible advancement is being observed on a particularly ambitious protocol upgrade.
Let’s look at why Bitcoin development matters.
Constant evolution
This new theory of changes to the Bitcoin protocol will be surprising to many. Only a few investors understand its importance. It is known to just a few people in the crypto world that it is so strong that nobody could change its code. Three are two major misunderstandings about the technology and its potential.
Bitcoin’s code has been a part and parcel of the bitcoin system for over 10 years, During this period, it has undergone a few changes. In the early days of the Bitcoin launch, there were frequent bugs that Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto would fix. We could also recall that during the civil war of 2017, several scaling options were introduced in the Bitcoin system. The Bitcoin community has been looking for these options for a long time. These new options resulted in a change in Bitcoin code to increase its block capacity.
A lot of effort was also put together in order to enhance its T functionality such as enabling sidechains or smoothing information exchange. Meanwhile, some other issues like compatibility issues and minor bugs require constant attention too. Just like other technologies, proper and constant maintenance was needed in the Bitcoin system to keep it updated.
Talking about the procedure of changing Bitcoin’s code –anybody can do it. It’s open-source. But to bring these changes one needs to have network consensus, and that is extremely difficult to achieve. For example, if you are trying to get 20 people with different philosophies, political convictions, economic incentives, and life goals to agree on a simple change. And if you multiply that by hundreds if not thousands, make the changes complicated, and you get an inkling of how hard it would be to implement a meaningful alteration. So this immense complexity of the network protects it from any change other than those the majority believe are beneficial to the entire ecosystem.
Incentives matter
There is also another important thing to know that is who pays the developers that work for
Bitcoin code?
When Bitcoin was newly introduced, almost all developer funding came from one source, the Bitcoin Foundation. But some time later, other funders also appeared on the scene including several companies dedicated to Bitcoin work, such as Blockstream, Chaincode Labs, and Lightning Labs. We can also detect some of the well-known crypto trading businesses such as Square Crypto, Coinbase, OKCoin, and BitMEX, as well as not-for-profit organizations such as MIT’s t act as a Digital Currency Initiative.
Diversity is the main element that is a backer of Bitcoin development. It is responsible to supervise that the network cannot be influenced by one set of priorities. So this is one of the major reasons why the recent Brink initiative is significant: It pushes the diversity of Bitcoin development even further.
Brink is basically an intriguing funding model. It works to pave ways to supplement donations to developers from a range of sources, including individuals, companies, and not-for-profits. The main source of its funds comes from donations from investor John Pfeffer and crypto custodian Xapo founder Wences Casares, as well as the Human Rights Foundation and crypto platforms Kraken, Gemini, and Square Crypto.
We can see that this wonderful form of sponsorship could be appealing to individuals and companies that want to support Bitcoin development but don’t want to have to choose specific individuals to fund.
Another great initiate taken by Brink is its announcement on training new developers, to ensure
a steady stream of qualified and diverse contributors well into the future. This predicts the network’s long-term resilience and growth.
Next upgrade
The recent news about Taproot Upgrade is highlighting the importance of the underlying technology. This will enhance the network’s smart contract functionality as well as introduce some privacy features.
Looking ahead
Although it is a good idea to take Bitcoin as a perpetual machine that just keeps running, we shouldn’t neglect the work involved in making that so. The more developers working on keeping Bitcoin clean and efficient, the more durable the protocol, and the more likely it is that key improvements can be implemented carefully.
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