Satoshi Nakamoto first introduced Bitcoin to the world when he released his white paper entitled, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” in 2008. Nakamoto dreamed of a decentralized digital cash system that does away with putting trust in third-party intermediaries and prevent double spending through the use of a secure, stable and immutable public database called a blockchain that has unlimited scaling capacity. The question now is, after 12 years, has this vision been realized?
The Bitcoin Civil War
With the innovative concept presented by Bitcoin creator Nakamoto, came numerous debates over the years on what to do with Bitcoin. The Bitcoin civil war started when the community was torn between the “small blockers” and the “big blockers.” The former wanted to maintain the status quo of Bitcoin transactions being stored in 1MB blocks of data and just record excess transactions off-chain, while the latter wanted to increase the block cap size to accommodate more transactions per block and continue recording everything on the blockchain as envisioned by Nakamoto in his white paper. The block size cap is essential to Bitcoin’s growth because it means more transactions stored and processed, which translates to more transaction payments for miners.
In 2017, outraged at what was happening, Nakamoto, who had been letting the Bitcoin community be, suddenly appeared and gave a surprise talk at a Bitcoin conference in Arnhem, where he called Bitcoin “nothing” if it did not scale massively.
The battle then ended shortly thereafter when the community was divided into Bitcoin Core (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH), the small blockers and big blockers, respectively. BCH then proceeded to increase its block size to 32MB.
However, the rift did not end with this initial divide. Bitcoin was again separated into those who wanted to further scale and increase the block size cap and those who deemed 32MB enough of an increase. Furthermore, BCH developers led by Bitcoin ABC wanted to introduce changes to the supposedly “fix” the Bitcoin Protocol to create a more anonymous system in which transactions cannot be traced by authorities.
This obviously did not sit well with those who believed in Nakamoto’s original vision of Bitcoin. And so, in November 2018, BCH split into two: with BCH retaining its ticker symbol and Bitcoin SV (BSV) being born out of it.
The Rebirth of Bitcoin in Bitcoin SV
Bitcoin SV stands for Satoshi Vision, and it has certainly been true to its name. In less than a year since it was established, the block size cap has been increased from 128MB to 2GB. In February 2020, the Genesis Upgrade was released, unlocking all of Bitcoin SV’s potential for massive scaling, with a promise of 1TB blocks in the near future. The upgrade also brought back the Bitcoin Protocol as close as possible to Nakamoto’s original design, which can be likened to the universal Internet protocol everyone uses today.
This set-in-stone protocol does not mean it cannot adapt to the times. Bitcoin SV has found a way to create stability yet provide developers with limitless innovation without changing the protocol. Now, the Bitcoin SV network is not only stable, but it is also secure and regulation-friendly. This means that all Bitcoin transactions are legal in whichever region they were made, which has always been Nakamoto’s vision. It also means that Bitcoin SV is prepared to continuously build various applications, utilizing microtransactions and smart contracts, which will make it so much more than just an electronic payment system. In Nakamoto’s words, “there is only one global chain” that can cater to “anything you can think of,” and that is Bitcoin SV.
Author: Makkie Maclang
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