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. Nevertheless, contestants nonetheless have at the least 12 days to go.
The competition began final week and consists of potential whole rewards of as much as BTC 6.1 for builders who’re capable of efficiently implement the privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC) as a Bitcoin drivechain through a sidechain (a separate blockchain that’s linked to the principle 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 very completely different blockchain, to realize entry to numerous options that aren’t at the moment accessible on Bitcoin’s primary chain. The tradeoff is {that a} 51% assault on Bitcoin now means miners can steal the funds held on the drivechain.
Sztorc initially introduced his drivechain concept in a November 2015 weblog put up. The researcher labored on this challenge as a result of he wanted a approach to implement his peer-to-peer oracle protocol often known as Bitcoin Hivemind.
What are the targets of this contest?
For Sztorc, the purpose of this contest is to compensate folks 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 learn if other people can make any sense of our sidechain template or how it works, [and we can] get more feedback about how to better run future contests,” Sztorc advised Cryptonews.com.
In keeping with him, Zcash was chosen because the altcoin to implement through a sidechain template for particular causes.
“The contest pays people if they are the first to assemble a certain type of software,” mentioned Sztorc.
“Zcash was made by forking Bitcoin, so really all people have to do is exactly that, again. Then again software development is very difficult, so I have no clue at all if I’ve given enough time or money or what.”
Sztorc mentioned 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 take a look at community, often known as DriveNet.
“It is a lot like how SegNet was used to test SegWit,” mentioned Sztorc.
As soon as drivechain capabilities are added to Bitcoin or one other cryptocurrency community, it will be capable to make use of this Zcash sidechain.
“It is kind of like a plugin,” added Sztorc.
In keeping with him, the drivechain code has been enormously improved when it comes to the variety of steps that should be taken to create a brand new sidechain, as outlined in a weblog put up from December 2019. Nevertheless, an preliminary smooth fork remains to be wanted to allow drivechains on Bitcoin.
“So, the initial soft fork is required to enforce Drivechain, but no new bureaucratic chicanery is required to add individual sidechains,” defined the researcher.
As soon as drivechain performance is enabled on the Bitcoin community, every particular person drivechain will be activated through approval from miners representing 95% of the community hashrate.
When it comes to what’s subsequent, Sztorc acknowledged that the smooth fork code to allow drivechain-based sidechains ought to be finalized earlier than the rest occurs.
“We still have one or two things left to add and debug,” mentioned Sztorc.
