Winner by TKO: Bitcoin SV

Yesterday Coingeek posted Original Bitcoin is Reborn with Bitcoin SV (BSV); BCH Hash War Ends.

From the article:

CoinGeek Mining is pleased to announce the original Bitcoin is back with Bitcoin SV (ticker: BSV). CoinGeek will support a permanent chain split from Bitcoin Cash (BCH), continue mining the BSV chain, and will work with others globally to establish a vibrant ecosystem for the BSV coin. This ends the on-going BCH hash war triggered by the November 15, 2018 network upgrade.

Given previous statements that the war would go on until ABC was bankrupt this paragraph caused some confusion:

“One aspect of stability is replay protection. Since ABC has not made this stability a priority, Bitcoin SV will do so in order to restore confidence to users and businesses on both chains. This change will require the Bitcoin SV team to work with the Bitcoin ecosystem, and the timeline will be announced when there is adequate ecosystem readiness.”

This appears to be admitting defeat by BSV. Implementing replay protection means BSV will alter their code to protect against replay by BAB. This has a ripple effect in that all services supporting BSV must also make updates to be compatible. This kind of change would normally signal weakness or defeat.

Here’s why this isn’t the case here. BAB beat themselves. Here’s a look at ABC in the ring with BSV.

First, BAB added Checkpoints to avoid Nakamoto Consensus and then, within days, doubled down making a unilateral change to how checkpoints are managed with a client update. No time for testing! This was on the fly defensive and centralized development. This treats BAB like a plaything rather than the future of money. Checkpoints violate the Bitcoin whitepaper and, therefore, make ABC something other than Bitcoin. You can read about checkpoints here and here.

If checkpoints weren’t enough we are now learning more about Avalanche. Avalanche is a protocol change to support pre consensus which lead ABC developer Amaury Sechet has stated is his primary focus.

Protocol changes DSV and CTOR plus Checkpoints and Avalanche? The conclusion: Bitcoin ABC is not Bitcoin. ABC is an experiment that has branched away from Bitcoin.

At that point I imagine the conversation in the BSV developer and mining community shifted. There’s no need to fight ABC. They have beat themselves. They are now a new alt. It’s time to move on.

And that’s exactly what Coingeek is saying in their article. The fight is over. BSV and BAB are free to move forward but only BSV is still the original Bitcoin.

I applaud BSV for seeing the entire playing field and moving the ball forward. This shift may require more work near term but there’s no sense fighting an opponent who has beat themselves. SV now prepares for the next battle.