The Bitcoin community was rocked to its knees today after Bitcoin chief scientist, Gavin Bell (aka Gavin Andresen), announced to the world that if his hand is forced, he’ll override the core developers of bitcoin and become the self-appointed “coding king” of the popular black market cryptocurrency.
The purpose of (this) process is to prove to any doubters that they’d better start supporting bigger blocks or they’ll be left behind, and to give them a chance to upgrade before that happens.
Alert Key Superpower
Even though he alone holds the alert key giving him the power to broadcast messages to every bitcoin user, until today it was generally believed that updating the code would require a consensus of the five core developers before a fork could proceed.
A group of five core developers emerged, with Andresen as the most senior. Only they had the power to change the code behind Bitcoin and merge in proposals from other volunteers. That gave them unique power over the currency’s basic operation and economic parameters.
Today, that fundamental framework that protects the bitcoin network, early adopters, and investors, went down in flames. Many Reddit users became unnerved when they discovered that Bitcoin is actually controlled by a mysterious individual with ties to the CIA and a bizarre alias.
I’m 100% with you. It might not be a popular opinion but forking Bitcoin is uncharted territory at this stage, especially without consensus between devs. Even if bigger blocks are needed and this is the only solution, it’s unsettling.
We’re told repeatedly, that if we don’t like the changes to the code, we’re free not to update our wallets. But non-technical users don’t understand that by refusing to update they’ll be left behind on the old fork and unable to send or receive coins. The fact is users must update if they want a functioning bitcoin wallet.
Fortunately, there are hundreds of other cryptocurrencies to choose from that are more stable and more transparent. Coinmarketcap.com shows the gap slowly narrowing between the digital currency leader Bitcoin and the remaining Altcoin pack.
Penn State Professor of Information Sciences and Technology, Dr. John Carroll, recently speculated that an alternative currency will probably replace the original crypto token. “Historically, the first generation of a given innovation ultimately is not the one that persists,” said Carroll.
What would happen to bitcoin if Gavin vanished like his predecessor? How would users react to an increase in the 21 million bitcoin cap? Log in below using your favorite social network and weigh in on the discussion.
