Over the last few days, Bitcoin Cash proponents have been debating the Infrastructure Funding Plan (IFP) after Bitcoin ABC published an announcement on implementing the plan into the upcoming software release. Again the concept was met with mixed responses and the community has been arguing about the situation on forums and social media. Following the community responses to Bitcoin ABC’s blog post, Btc.top founder Jiang Zhuoer published an updated version of the plan the following day.
Also Read: 5% of Block Rewards – Bitcoin ABC Will Add Infrastructure Funding Plan in Next Release
Bitcoin Cash Infrastructure Funding Plan Discussions Continue as Jiang Zhuoer Publishes Update
Members of the BCH community have been discussing the latest information regarding the Infrastructure Funding Plan (IFP) after Bitcoin ABC told the public it would be implementing code for the plan in the 0.21.0 ABC software release. The plan had a few changes to the proposals discussed prior which included only 5% of the coinbase rewards, a BIP-9 like voting method with threshold, and funds that can go to “more than one project and can go to one of several in a whitelist.” The whitelist ABC came up with included donation addresses for a “General Fund, Bitcoin ABC, Electron Cash, and BCHD.”
Bitcoin.com’s executive chairman Roger Ver discussed the IFP subject on Youtube and had a number of objections and questions concerning the latest IFP update. On an r/btc forum post, Ver’s Reddit account stressed: “As it stands now, Bitcoin.com will not go through with supporting any plan unless there is more agreement in the ecosystem such that the risk of a chain split is negligible.” Following Ver’s statements, Btc.top founder Jiang Zhuoer published another blog post on the read.cash platform called “BCH Miner Donation Plan Update Again.”
Zhuoer’s latest post is much shorter than the two blog posts he published prior in regard to the IFP subject. The post is also aligned with the Bitcoin ABC announcement and further discusses the voting threshold and coinbase donation amount. Zhuoer’s latest IFP update states:
- It will start by the hash voting, if 2/3 of network hash agrees, the donation plan will be put into effect. (I believe the miners have the right to vote on how to spend their output).
- For the 5% of the coinbase donated by miners, the miners shall have the option, at their sole discretion, to select a number of donation objects, such as: General Foundation, ABC, BCHD, Electron Cash.
- The donation plan will last for 6 months (as one version is valid for a maximum period of 6 months). I suggest that we stop the fundraising after 6 months, and we may restart it eventually to prevent it [from] becoming a permanent rule.
- There are numerous objections now, I am inclined to start the donation plan after that the community reaches a basic agreement. If they fail to achieve it, we could set up the General Foundation first, let’s see its operation effect funding by donation, then we could proceed the hash voting next time.
Block 622509, Bitcoin Verde, and Bitcoin Unlimited
In addition to Zhuoer’s latest blog post, BCH block #622509 mined by SBIcrypto.com left a coinbase message that says “no” and a link to the Bitcoin ABC announcement. There are also comments stemming from developers of full nodes like Bitcoin Verde and Bitcoin Unlimited.
Bitcoin Verde’s Joshua Green tweeted about the announcement from Bitcoin ABC and questioned why Verde was excluded. The chief scientist of Bitcoin Unlimited, Peter Rizun, tweeted about the announcement from ABC as well. “Amaury Sechet is literally modifying the BCH protocol to issue coins to him and his friends,” Rizun explained. “Due to the poison pill, miners and exchanges must upgrade before May 15. If they do as usual and download the new version of ABC, his plan succeeds by default.”
Greg Maxwell Stirs the Pot
In addition to the opposition against the IFP, former Blockstream developer Greg Maxwell is seemingly stirring the pot. Within the depths of an r/btc thread that Greg Maxwell started, he claims Amaury Sechet (Deadalnix) private messaged him about creating a version of Bitcoin ABC without the IFP. Github code linked by Maxwell shows a version of ABC without the IFP and again states that “Amaury Sechet requested that I post this.”
“It is completely untested and may not even compile,” Maxwell says and then insults BCH toward the end of his comments. Of course, Maxwell’s thread, statements, and IFP free code were controversial among r/btc patrons. Not too many people believed Maxwell’s words, and lots of his commentary was downvoted throughout the thread. Maxwell was also known for being involved in the November 2018 hash war as it was once claimed he was helping Craig Wright.
With Negativity In the Air, Open Discussion Is a Net Positive and Worthwhile
The IFP discussion continues to unfold and read.cash and r/btc are filled with threads and blog posts about the subject. If anything can be said at the moment about the furious debates it is that at least people have open forums to discuss the situation. Back in 2015, when bitcoiners tried to debate raising the block size, moderators from the most popular Bitcoin Reddit forum censored anyone who approved of raising the block size. Right now, in the world of Bitcoin Cash, there is no censorship happening and even Blockstream developer Greg Maxwell is free to speak his mind within BCH forums. The IFP debate and discussion is continuing to unfold and news.Bitcoin.com will be there to inform our readers every step of the way.
What do you think about the discussions revolving around the IFP subject? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below.
Image credits: Shutterstock, Coin Dance, Btc.top, Youtube, Bitcoin.com, Fair Use, Blockchair, and Pixabay.
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