Is Bitcoin destined to become a binary system?
I had an epiphany today. Seconds after waking from a deep sleep, I started to ask myself these questions:
(1) How can we bring both sides of the hard-fork debate together for the betterment of Bitcoin the invention?
(2) Why can't Bitcoin Unlimited serve as the "Lightning Network" for Bitcoin Core?
I've been running through all the scenarios and use cases mulling around in my head. Everything seems to fit. Follow my train of thought here.
What if this great invention (Bitcoin) is ultimately supposed to have a "Lightning Network". We know that scaling the main blockchain has technical limitations that will prevent it from scaling to Visa-like network levels that can process thousands of transactions per second. So, eventually some type of Lightning Network will be needed to achieve this. It's inevitable if we want billions of people using Bitcoin everyday.
So, if It's inevitable... maybe this is the natural organic evolution of Bitcoin!
Maybe this is how it's supposed to be. Two chains working together to solve one problem. Maybe after the main chain splits, both chains keeping running. Maybe at this point, Bitcoin Unlimited starts to act like a Lightning Network and Bitcoin Core starts to act like a settlement layer. The core chain could act as "digital gold" for large transactions. The unlimited chain could act as "digital cash" for small/micro transactions. Effectively, Bitcoin as it sits today, is the settlement layer of the future binary system.
Powering the Lightning Network
One of the great benefits of the hard-fork would be INSTANT POWER for the "Lightning Network"!
If the hard-fork happens this year, it will likely take 80% of Bitcoins total current hashing power with it. So, this Lightning Network will be very powerful at first. About 3 exahashes of raw hashing power will be powering and securing this new Unlimited Lightning chain immediately. Maybe over the next few days after the split, the mining begins equalizing on both chains. Mining pools start to adjust accordingly.
Let's theorize that some of the hashing power that caused the split starts to migrate back to the Bitcoin Core chain to help both chains survive the fork. We could end up with a situation where both chains survive (each having roughly 2 exahashes of hashing power). Mining on either chain could be very profitable! Also, this binary system would still be the most powerful computer network on planet Earth!! Most importantly, it would be READY TO SCALE! Bitcoin could now be well positioned to handle multiple 10x user-base increases until Bitcoin becomes ubiquitous.
The goal is to get billions of people using Bitcoin!
In my opinion, this seems like a win-win for everyone involved. The users, miners, investors and software developers of Bitcoin could all benefit by using this binary system.
Please share your thoughts. I'd love to hear what you think of my idea.
Sincerely,
Mike Relentless
Bitcoin Enthusiast