Ten days weren’t sufficient for blockchain builders to win a brand new Bitcoin (BTC) contest, launched by Paul Sztorc, an unbiased BTC researcher, and faucet right into a BTC 6.1 (USD 53,600) prize fund. Nonetheless, contestants nonetheless have at the very least 12 days to go.
The competition started final week and contains potential whole rewards of as much as BTC 6.1 for builders who’re in a position to efficiently implement the privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC) as a Bitcoin drivechain through a sidechain (a separate blockchain that’s linked to the primary blockchain) template.
A drivechain is a kind of Bitcoin sidechain the place miners successfully maintain the funds on the sidechain in escrow. Bitcoin customers can ship BTC to a drivechain, which is a totally totally different blockchain, to achieve entry to varied features that aren’t at present obtainable on Bitcoin’s most important chain. The tradeoff is {that a} 51% attack on Bitcoin now means miners can steal the funds held on the drivechain.
Sztorc initially introduced his drivechain concept in a November 2015 weblog submit. The researcher labored on this challenge as a result of he wanted a strategy to implement his peer-to-peer oracle protocol often known as Bitcoin Hivemind.
What are the objectives of this contest?
For Sztorc, the objective of this contest is to compensate individuals for the time it takes to look into his drivechain challenge, check out the software program, and construct one thing nice within the course of.
“[It’s also helpful] for me to be taught if different individuals could make any sense of our sidechain template or the way it works, [and we can] get extra suggestions about how you can higher run future contests,” Sztorc instructed Cryptonews.com.
In keeping with him, Zcash was chosen because the altcoin to implement through a sidechain template for particular causes.
“The competition pays individuals if they’re the primary to assemble a sure kind of software program,” stated Sztorc.
“Zcash was made by forking Bitcoin, so actually all individuals need to do is strictly that, once more. Then once more software program improvement could be very tough, so I’ve no clue in any respect if I’ve given sufficient time or cash or what.”
Sztorc stated nobody has efficiently accomplished the Zcash sidechain implementation for Bitcoin at this level.
When drivechain on Bitcoin?
As soon as somebody is ready to implement a Zcash sidechain through the drivechain software program, it may be used for testing on the drivechain check community, often known as DriveNet.
“It’s a lot like how SegNet was used to check SegWit,” stated Sztorc.
As soon as drivechain capabilities are added to Bitcoin or one other cryptocurrency community, it could be capable to make use of this Zcash sidechain.
“It’s form of like a plugin,” added Sztorc.
In keeping with him, the drivechain code has been drastically improved when it comes to the variety of steps that must be taken to create a brand new sidechain, as outlined in a weblog post from December 2019. Nonetheless, an preliminary mushy fork continues to be wanted to allow drivechains on Bitcoin.
“So, the preliminary mushy fork is required to implement Drivechain, however no new bureaucratic chicanery is required so as to add particular person sidechains,” defined the researcher.
As soon as drivechain performance is enabled on the Bitcoin community, every particular person drivechain might be activated through approval from miners representing 95% of the community hashrate.
By way of what’s subsequent, Sztorc said that the mushy fork code to allow drivechain-based sidechains ought to be finalized earlier than anything occurs.
“We nonetheless have one or two issues left so as to add and debug,” stated Sztorc.
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