There's something about the stereotypes of the naive dreamer and idealist, or the cold hard realist and cynic. Stereotypes aren't just unfounded; they have a kernel of truth to them. Otherwise, they would never have gone viral as an idea in the first place. But they, like the worldview they espouse, are exaggerated beyond their kernels.
Bitcoin is currently caught in a game of tug-of-war between naive idealists and jaded cynics.
On the one hand, idealists claim that we have already won. We don't need to do anything, Bitcoin magically guarantees success. It's already going to take over the world, everyone owns it, it's the greatest store of value ever. That's all you need to win and be successful. No improvement required.
Cynics, on the other hand, claim that we have lost or will go. There is no way Bitcoin can succeed in the world with just a complete overhaul that changes Bitcoin dramatically. It will be captured and will be of no use. “Who knows where to start?” is the response to asking what improvements are needed.
Both of these extremes that dominate public dialogue stem from two important things: the reality of what we can already do with what we have, and how substantially even very small and simple improvements can scale. Distract.
As things stand now, Bitcoin will rely on custodians to have censorship resistance and privacy for most of the world. The best we can do in that regard is ecash mints in many small and local Chowmai, but to run ecash mints you have to run lightning.
Lightning is complicated and if you mess up and lose the latest channel condition, you can lose all your money. This design allows counterparties to steal all funds if they try to use the old channel state after an update. CTV + CSFS provides LN acoustic measurements. This is a type of lightning channel that provides a new way for channels to work. Instead of using an old state that allows other parties to take all the money, LN acoustic channels allow them to spend the old state on the latest state by simply “cutting through” all the intermediate states. So that you can be guaranteed that everyone gets the correct amount.
One small change (and it will never be enabled by all CTV+CSF) fundamentally changes the landscape of who is capable and willing to run a local Ecash mint. The risk of losing everyone's money through incompetence all but disappears.
This one small new feature greatly improves Bitcoin's potential to remain private and censorship-resistant. Will it extend self-custody rights to the entire world? no. Significantly improve the value of Bitcoin, despite the value maximalist claims of improvement stores? absolutely.
Bitcoiners need to stop focusing only on the extremes and poles when it comes to the potential of this space. In between there is a large, largely unexplored open field. If you really want to know your chances of success, check our limits actually You need to explore that space because you can and cannot do it with Bitcoin.
This article is a take. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
