When cryptocurrency first really started to become a household word around the globe, it was immediately assigned a dark stigma due to the media’s infatuation with Silk Road, the black market that was facilitated through the use of cryptocurrency. This connection made many erroneously believe that crypto and illegal activity were intrinsically intertwined and prevented crypto adoption at the levels that should have been seen. Although the cryptocurrency community has fought hard to release the Silk Road binds, the introduction of the DSV OP_Code could possibly cause a resurgence in negative opinions of digital currency.
A week ago, Dr. Craig Wright of nChain appropriately pointed out, “Adoption didn’t happen because of Silk Road. If you looked at other centralized coins that happened in the 90s and things like this within the first three years, you actually had banks starting to use them; Deutsche Bank was using DigiCash, others were using it. So Silk Road actually killed adoption in Bitcoin. Right now, we would be in a world with probably 500 million people using Bitcoin at least on a daily basis if it wasn’t for Silk Road.”
Bitcoin BCH was created, in part, because a growing number of crypto enthusiasts, developers, proponents and visionaries realized that, for a cryptocurrency to function properly, it cannot be entirely anonymous, a trait that has been available with other cryptocurrencies and which allowed Silk Road to flourish. They rightfully support the belief that cryptocurrency can be private and not anonymous at the same time, which will lead to BCH being accepted more easily by regulators.
DSV reverses this position and can turn BCH into a blockchain that supports complete anonymity. It removes all legal protections a cryptocurrency could afford and revives the almost buried misconception of crypto being good for nothing more than illicit activity.
Roger Ver of Bitcoin.com totally supports DSV, as does Jihan Wu of crypto mining equipment manufacturer Bitmain. Their ability to push for what can only be described as an anarchist implementation of a blockchain has to make people wonder what ulterior motives are behind their position.
Silk Road was inarguably the go-to forum for illegal activity – that much has been confirmed. Ross Ulbricht, founder of Silk Road, has already been put away for his actions, sentenced to a life in prison in 2015 (he was actually given two life terms with no possibility of parole). More recently, James Ellingson was arrested in Canada on warrants for drug dealing and being a hitman for hire. All of his activity had been conducted on Silk Road and it is reported that Ulbricht once hired him to take out someone, but this has never been confirmed.
Given that DSV will introduce anonymity into BCH, the move is extremely concerning. Does the BCH community really want a blockchain that can be used for arranging murders and selling drugs? I hope not.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
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Is it possible that Jihan Wu, Roger Ver and others are hoping to criminalize the Bitcoin BCH blockchain through the DSV OP_Code? While it may seem like just a wild theory, Dr. Craig Wright, chief scientist of nChain, points out some interesting facts that are quite convincing.
Wright provides an analogy of the criminality of child porn. He demonstrates that a host who only publishes child pornography isn’t liable, unless they know they are hosting the content, intentionally or otherwise. He explains, “The protections granted to Freedom in hosting as a mere publisher vanishes as soon as they receive notification. If they receive a warning and do nothing, they lose all protection. A Site that has been taken offline and then proceeds to make the illegal data accessible again is guilty of a crime.”
DSV, or the OP_CHECKDATASIG, would introduce new parameters to the Bitcoin BCH blockchain that would allow Bitcoin to be used anonymously, as well as for criminal activity. It undermines the very concept of digital currency and jeopardizes the legitimacy of the Bitcoin BCH network as an alternative to fiat.
Bitcoin Core, when it was first developed, was meant to be a currency that favored privacy, but not anonymity. Cryptocurrency was never meant to be anonymous. The only way to have a viable digital currency that is accepted by regulators is if it adheres to certain legal guidelines – anonymity is not one of these.
As Wright puts it, “To throw out the legal protections is to give away the freedoms we have. The push to add constructs into Bitcoin that are designed solely for this is not just bad, it is immoral.” DSV will allow for completely anonymous transactions, undermining all of the work that has gone into creating a strong, valuable and global peer-to-peer digital currency.
A DSV transaction, by its own definition and nature, allows a user to knowingly and willingly conduct an illegal transaction. The recipient also becomes the receiver of illegal property. Since the transaction occurred over the Bitcoin BCH blockchain, the network has become a complicit partner.
Wright asserts, “Others may want to make Bitcoin “better” for criminals, terrorists and to help in it promoting Child Porn and violence.” If this is the goal of Ver and Wu, perhaps they should form their own cryptocurrency. Their actions are not only bad for Bitcoin BCH, but for society, as well.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post How DSV seeks to criminalize the Bitcoin BCH blockchain appeared first on Coingeek.
The U.S Supreme Court defines a bucket shop as “An establishment, nominally for the transaction of a stock exchange business, or business of similar character, but really for the registration of bets, or wagers, usually for small amounts, on the rise or fall of the prices of stocks, grain, oil, etc., there being no transfer or delivery of the stock or commodities nominally dealt in.” This sounds very similar to what can be found on the Augur prediction markets platform, where users can place wagers on everything from assassinations to World Cup events. They can also bet on the state of securities and commodity prices, which might not sit well with regulators per the Supreme Court’s position.
The same concern is being raised over the OP_CHECKDATASIG, or DSV, opcode for Bitcoin BCH. The opcode allows for the integration of a third-party oracle – one that exists outside of the blockchain - that can publish prices for use in wagers of any type, including on the movement of Bitcoin BCH. By virtue of being an experiment in gambling against a cryptocurrency, this could ultimately prove to be a loser with financial regulators.
Several high-profile individuals in the Bitcoin BCH community, including Bitmain founder and CEO Jihan Wu and Bitcoin.com’s Roger Ver, support the integration of new tools on the blockchain in the upcoming upgrade scheduled for a week from now. Among these is DSV, which leads many to wonder what they’re hoping to achieve. If DSV is developed as intended and the Bitcoin BCH turns into a free-for-all gambling platform, this will not sit well with regulators and could ultimately lead to the demise of the cryptocurrency.
DSV also has another dangerous characteristic. It would enable the network to be halted. This means that Bitcoin BCH would no longer be available on exchanges, it couldn’t be traded through wallets and it would stop being useful as a currency.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has already started to take a closer look at Augur and believes that it could be operating in violation of the Commodity Exchange Act in that the platform is not a designated contract market. While Augur has tried to distance itself from being seen as a prediction market, it obviously realizes that there’s a connection. It even has a wager listed on the site, “Will the Forecast Foundation face an enforcement action from the SEC or CFTC before Dec. 21, 2018 for hosting unregulated derivatives markets?” The Forecast Foundation is the group behind Augur’s protocol.
If the CFTC is willing to go after Augur for not being a registered contract market, what is to stop it, or any other regulatory body, from doing the same to Bitcoin BCH?
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
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