Welcome
I'm freetrader (ftrader on github, gitgud and Reddit), a fervent fan of freedom - in software, markets, currencies and communication.
Right now, I'm very much interested in successful on-chain scaling of Bitcoin, mostly through the hard fork of Bitcoin Cash. Bitcoin Cash arose out of the desire to hard fork Bitcoin as a way of upgrading and getting more capacity and growth back into Bitcoin. I share the same vision for Bitcoin as peer-to-peer electronic cash for the world as initially put forth by the BTCfork community.
I can usually be found in the development Slacks of BTCfork and various Bitcoin implementations [1], on Bitcoin- and cryptocurrency-related forums [2], and you can contact me by email if you need.
My PGP key ID is C07A7C345E86B06C, and the fingerprint is CC32 9A4F B0E4 1392 8295 05FE C07A 7C34 5E86 B06C.
I'm a member of Bitcoin Unlimited and my BU signing address is 1Libre7MGkCXr7pUAEbwihCR9X4quYAyQ4.
I'm on Memo - my profile is https://memo.cash/profile/1EDtyAxn8zh9qBdWxdCyhY7AFzLcHvFrtE .
Ask for signature proof if you think someone is impersonating me, and please notify me if you find someone pretending to be me.
[1] btcforks.slack.com, bitcoinclassic.slack.com, bitcoinunlimited.slack.com
[2] https://bitco.in/forum, https://forum.bitcoin.com
[3] Why hard forks? https://medium.com/@octskyward/on-consensus-and-forks-c6a050c792e7#.4kqubk8rx
Bare signature of Bitcoin ABC release 0.16.0 (1 Nov 2017)
Text:
I confirmed the following checksums for the Bitcoin ABC 0.16.0 release
using gitian:
freetrader (1Libre7MGkCXr7pUAEbwihCR9X4quYAyQ4)
ca4ee570d8cef5a6c55eea23ec4308f8c34893bdd0348a29b66fdaf5e78d6ed3 bitcoin-abc-0.16.0-aarch64-linux-gnu-debug.tar.gz
113227460cf22253a1bd7a55a61c1c4d4911957ab33e32a8c6cd92ccfb47d4bb bitcoin-abc-0.16.0-aarch64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
70dac39460cccee49e7f2d74a5ec7e2466e5c85c6a242fe3ef6c3d617f8c2798 bitcoin-abc-0.16.0-arm-linux-gnueabihf-debug.tar.gz
2da1940875040295cb4bcab544cc06588c8c02d22af7a0934f48ca825f655727 bitcoin-abc-0.16.0-arm-linux-gnueabihf.tar.gz
2ca0006033ff51f3a44913d65ff60dab375d1d7e80397b481d47b552135fc69d bitcoin-abc-0.16.0-i686-pc-linux-gnu-debug.tar.gz
0ebf9a8af97afa51150230e4d6fdaf09280ef4149effdc61afb1a9e3552f776c bitcoin-abc-0.16.0-i686-pc-linux-gnu.tar.gz
807d32b200a6bbe843b58270e7f4a818223a62a6565058851866ef6eee82b5f8 bitcoin-abc-0.16.0-osx64.tar.gz
322875dc0730c6d49e72a273e637d747dc5a30d80486c88102b79a552e532198 bitcoin-abc-0.16.0-osx-unsigned.dmg
9231b4dfea679991d318602f505c7cc258913b1198c9b90cfddc1c2b01c51ad8 bitcoin-abc-0.16.0-osx-unsigned.tar.gz
4baf7e14347f4f2c9b8bc592660e72311b74d97cb09254155ae38cead6d37136 bitcoin-abc-0.16.0-x86_64-linux-gnu-debug.tar.gz
132912e57d28adc0dee8ad2beb6322e873310aa0c826b92f8c89a9b14c5b321a bitcoin-abc-0.16.0-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
343721d497dee4e8e8eeefa91d572b8bb1559786c57c88f20c80fb8cb0237ae6 src/bitcoin-abc-0.16.0.tar.gz
Due to a build problem I was unable to confirm the checksums for the
Windows build through gitian.
Signature:
HIVAuz6jL6FWHNY0ycQfUnipVvbgX2GDlwZtlz8Q+zyGri+CPgvPOnORn9hByiUkMjhn8lDvzz32/nFnrV/Y0I4=
It should be possible to confirm this bare signature by pasting the text from "I confirm" until the final "src/bitcoin..." line into your client and verify using the signature which follows the text. The bare signature should work in any Bitcoin-Qt client, such as ABC.
An update of this post will be released once I am able to verify the checksums for the Windows build.
Thanks to all who made this release possible and are supporting Bitcoin ABC.
Further links:
Official ABC website: https://www.bitcoinabc.org/
Official ABC Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bitcoin_ABC
Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinABC/
Forum: https://bitco.in/forum/forums/bitcoin-abc.25/
Support slack (currently at BTCfork): self-invite via https://btcforks.signup.team/
Weekly musing #22 - Troubleshooting, buildbot
Bitcoin ABC
I found a partial solution to ABC issue 80, which is a problem of pre-fork transactions showing up with wrong dates after import of private keys from older wallets.
Transaction dates are assigned using a selection of heuristics during a re-scan, some of which produce very strange (wrong) results. A workaround to some of these problems was described by user 'dooglus' in Core issue 6662. However, it does not solve all problems. I'm looking at the wallet code to familiarize myself with it.
Other small fixes are being made in preparation for next release.
buildbot
I've looked at the buildbot software, which deadalnix mentioned a few times.
It seems a great fit for ABC's (and the wider Bitcoin Cash clients) testing needs.
We could set up a structure of master servers and people could contribute worker instances on various platforms.
I am in the process of setting up some hosted servers (a build master and worker for starters) which should be able to run builds and perform tests.
Incidentally, the ZCash project is also using buildbot, with Amazon Web Services. We might look at that later on. For the beginning I think we can run workers on our own dedicated servers.
Bitcoin Unlimited
Bitcoin Unlimited has tagged BUcash v1.1.1.1 , which should be out shortly. A great set of changes.
For some reason my OSX gitian build for BU is broken (SSL certificate problems with curl).
[Due to a publishing error this musing didn't make it onto the blog in regular scheduled manner.]
Weekly musing #21 - The slow rise of Bitcoin Cash
Return of Bitcoin use cases
Bitcoin Cash has a huge advantage in that it is able to absorb a large amount of actual economic use by inviduals and small to medium sized businesses which have been driven away by the high fees on Bitcoin.
In a short time, we have seen interesting use cases return, including tip bots on Reddit, and the content platform Yours.org which intends to build an innovative micropayment-based service has also moved back from Litecoin to Bitcoin (Cash). Fairlay have stated that they plan to provide tipping integration services with big social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. This will greatly help to get people interested and using the currency, which is our number one priority right now.
Other important use cases like coin mixing services are bound to make a comeback on Bitcoin Cash as long as fees remain low. This could give the currency a privacy / fungibility advantage over legacy Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Cash Emergency Difficulty Adjustment (EDA)
There has been much discussion around the topic of the Emergency Difficulty Adjustment (EDA).
My view agrees largely with that of deadalnix as he expressed on the bitcoin-ml mailing list.
The EDA has ensured the survival of the chain up to now, but it is not optimal and not intended to be used repeatedly in the longer term. Unless there is a definitive and permanent majority swing of hashpower to the Cash chain, a replacement will need to be ready (but not necessarily deployed) in the next weeks.
A number of proposals have been made on the mailing list. These need to be carefully studied, simulated and compared, before a choice is made for the next hard fork. Whatever is chosen needs to demonstrate that it is clearly superior to Bitcoin's existing algorithm and to the EDA, and does not leave the chain more vulnerable to attacks.
Realistically, indications are that the fight over hashpower is going to take a while, and the outcome is uncertain. Being in a permanent competition for hashpower with another coin is not desirable, even if it may be survivable.
Discussion picks up on bitcoin-ml mailing list
It is refreshing to see volume pick up on the bitcoin-ml mailing list, with various people, including the developers of the Cash-supporting clients, contributing to the discussion. Naturally, the topics revolve around EDA, the further roadmap and hard fork planning.
Like most others, I think we should give businesses a chance to become familiar and comfortable with Bitcoin Cash before we fork again. Unless there is an emergency requirement to fork, I would hope we can have a period of stabilisation for at least six months.
Weekly musing #20 - Let the market speak
Bitcoin Cash
It's inspiring to see how well Bitcoin Cash has done in this last week.
The market has certainly run with it.
It's unclear whether the temporary spike in transactions that led to the mining of a nearly 8MB block was an attempt to attack the network, or simply a test of transaction capacity. It certainly was not a scheduled test by any of the main implementations, so naturally it put everyone on alert.
Regardless of intent, it showed the network was more than capable of absorbing such loads, and may have contributed to increasing confidence among users and those watching on the sidelines.
If it was intended as an attack, it's safe to say it backfired spectacularly.
Price rises brought parity in terms of mining profitability with the legacy chain.
A further difficulty reduction by about 40 percent boosted that profitability advantage (at least momentarily) to upwards of 150%. Miners have certainly paid attention, with large new pools joining to mine the chain.
All signs point to continued support and growth. We shall need to let the market speak, and listen carefully to what it says.
Bitcoin ABC
I believe we need to open the public discussion to introduce a separate address scheme in this coming week.
Reproducing the import-related wallet issues has proved difficult, and work is still ongoing.
References
Weekly musing #19 - A new beginning and a new hope
Bitcoin Cash
This week has seen adoption by the first merchants such as Keyois, the manufacturers of the Keyois Capsule (a stylish and secure storage device for paper wallets), and Keys4Coins, a PC games store. Rocketr's new Bitcoin Cash payment option is a great solution for merchants wishing to get on board.
Reddit users are also setting up a tip bot which seems to be progressing nicely.
There is a lot of positive momentum, but the recent price rises in Bitcoin have been stealing some of the excitement. At the same time, a rise in the Bitcoin transaction backlog due to this market action is putting the spotlight on the shortcomings of the legacy chain. With every further wave of problems (high fees, erratic/long confirmation times) on Bitcoin, more users will realize that these problems do not need to exist, and that Bitcoin Cash can offer a better future.
Bitcoin ABC
As a matter of first priority ABC developers are trying to reproduce and fix issues reported by users.
Several users reported interoperability problems based on the 'bitcoin:' URI scheme being associated with payment on the existing Bitcoin chain.
Discussion about a new URI prefix has converged on 'bitcoincash:' among after some initial to-and-fro on the bitcoin-ml mailing list, Github and other discussion forums.
Bitcoin ABC's next release should support this new scheme, as well as roll out optional support for new network magic.
Some wallet related issues to do with import of BTC private keys and potential problems with long inter-block times are being followed up too.
Next steps will involve enforcing new network magic, cleaning up the logical separation in terms of software package names and resources such as data directory and registry entries. Also, a new address scheme will need to be coordinated to reduce the chance of accidentally sending coins of the wrong type.
References
Weekly musing #18 - After the fork
 |
A hard fork and a hard deadline
August 1 2017 was F-Day.
Bitcoin's first block size upgrade hard fork - a controversial event which some had said could not happen.
Yet, here we are, nearly a week after this significant event which has given birth to a spin-off chain with a bigger (and flexible) block size cap.
Congratulations to all!
Some lessons emerging
Though coordination for a hard fork among 4 different client implementations (ABC, BU, Classic and XT) is not entirely easy, it does seem like this fork could not have been a success otherwise. The valuable contributions from every client is what made it a success in the end.
Late-game specification changes led to some consternation, and should better be avoided in future.
A surprisingly large amount of code and tests need cleanup and fixing after a hard fork.
And not everything will go smoothly - bugs will be there (in various implementations) no matter what. As someone predicted, having multiple client implementations is a good way to save each other's bacon during such events.
References
[1] Image of raising fork at Iwo Jima is by Imgur user "totherioters" http://imgur.com/gallery/FGEzb
Weekly musing #17 - Prepare to Fork
Two new ABC releases since last week 
I am extremely happy to see Bitcoin Unlimited, Bitcoin Classic and Bitcoin XT all join together in preparing UAHF-compatible versions.
I will try to run them all during this fork, and would encourage everyone who has a moderately powerful PC to do the same (use different ports and separate data directories).
That way, even if the UAHF node network is attacked using zero-day vulnerabilities, there is a chance at least one of your nodes will stay up.
May the fork be with us!
Bare signature of sixth Bitcoin ABC binary release (29 July 2017)
By popular demand, I am providing a "bare" signature instead of the clearsign signatures produced by my old Armory (people are having trouble verifying these with other clients).
The following is the data (paste from "I confirm" until the final "src/bitcoin..." line into your client and verify using the signature which follows the text. The bare signature should work in any Bitcoin-Qt client, such as ABC.
Text:
I confirm the following checksums for the Bitcoin ABC 0.14.6 release.
freetrader (1Libre7MGkCXr7pUAEbwihCR9X4quYAyQ4)
0ae6406cd0fed52336739847808232410235873f8276b657458c55a6571713e2 bitcoin-0.14.6-aarch64-linux-gnu-debug.tar.gz
86d8887792214c262d1e38d00991bd7786aeaed13b27fb108349c99c2371a735 bitcoin-0.14.6-aarch64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
c50d4159bcdd2e1935b49f94466db781fa4dfc63d4600c718ccfb2fc13365626 bitcoin-0.14.6-arm-linux-gnueabihf-debug.tar.gz
0f8ad170892da62a5387603b6abd8fafa0242eb932d87a7a51583ddbe1e301a9 bitcoin-0.14.6-arm-linux-gnueabihf.tar.gz
82f8ffe4a76830b7ebe0b5a7ff36e0e22450a313644cc2c5df05a32fd66e2482 bitcoin-0.14.6-i686-pc-linux-gnu-debug.tar.gz
984832d76e0af259691f28f57ae5dee08046fadbe18dbe759153433a7aabcc12 bitcoin-0.14.6-i686-pc-linux-gnu.tar.gz
5543548f2421cffca5aa05b3064883b49f5d523ca56fe05c500fb59f0ab9b217 bitcoin-0.14.6-osx64.tar.gz
478f98966eb5a55b9ef58ca45c6f3301722f616b57211d7a8b11807f301e29a2 bitcoin-0.14.6-osx-unsigned.dmg
1c3a8957a8d061c828b6fdb3abc3734304caa2acb540ccce17cad296bf6cad22 bitcoin-0.14.6-osx-unsigned.tar.gz
c0ed4c451c54bbbc3b516516da07260a69000747f42834b31063ee1ec0ce21b5 bitcoin-0.14.6-win32-debug.zip
9d97163a0b1a86fa0d9e02f347af258df050b0f4880dee72061e56259f2d4d91 bitcoin-0.14.6-win32-setup-unsigned.exe
5bc741ec1d1aba6a1a1a86410d567e3bfc74676bb0ed65c10e3ae8b5fcc6689d bitcoin-0.14.6-win32.zip
d26485323f577a44bef2f0c0dde04e592c71f33b71d30ae1c93faafaf9bcbb5f bitcoin-0.14.6-win64-debug.zip
c75d1b32bd7bb22628aa379aafd6866ed88ddaaf5b5e30897fe11d503126b016 bitcoin-0.14.6-win64-setup-unsigned.exe
d5721b246ff4189da853cd12d8d66b14496d7e64a6ecbb330423488cfc0e116d bitcoin-0.14.6-win64.zip
7a70db3a250df5034a78b1fd1900e792dc0ba9416f519627701633efb0f483a8 bitcoin-0.14.6-win-unsigned.tar.gz
c45ac452497c0a3dd738b9ef3845314c092bbc4c9b6bffaa9b340ebd945deb64 bitcoin-0.14.6-x86_64-linux-gnu-debug.tar.gz
9f37b8ec36a37944b016bbbf07340adb8ba644abb897b2d2e0edeb99ccf709c0 bitcoin-0.14.6-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
595238e647255265299b0f17dfe0ba37083cf17a926049371da8a4be2a261c59 src/bitcoin-0.14.6.tar.gz
Signature:
HGvCNoqGY8yvIkylnFZ35EgxPRbLMKoRKyeglda3tvLwjeQ/RdFZd4+hfEcKeq2KO4edw7dFv9qvG29ZpZGeb90=
Thanks to all who made this release possible and are supporting Bitcoin ABC.
Further links:
Official ABC website: https://www.bitcoinabc.org/
Official ABC Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bitcoin_ABC
Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinABC/
Forum: https://bitco.in/forum/forums/bitcoin-abc.25/
Support slack (currently at BTCfork): self-invite via https://btcforks.signup.team/
Signatures of sixth Bitcoin ABC binary release (29 July 2017)
Linux, OSX and Windows Binaries for the 0.14.6 version have been built by deadalnix and myself using gitian (reproducible builds).
The binaries can be downloaded from https://download.bitcoinabc.org/0.14.6/ .
-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Comment: Signed by Bitcoin Armory v0.93.2
I confirm the following checksums for the Bitcoin ABC 0.14.6 release.
freetrader (1Libre7MGkCXr7pUAEbwihCR9X4quYAyQ4)
0ae6406cd0fed52336739847808232410235873f8276b657458c55a6571713e2 bitcoin-0.14.6-aarch64-linux-gnu-debug.tar.gz
86d8887792214c262d1e38d00991bd7786aeaed13b27fb108349c99c2371a735 bitcoin-0.14.6-aarch64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
c50d4159bcdd2e1935b49f94466db781fa4dfc63d4600c718ccfb2fc13365626 bitcoin-0.14.6-arm-linux-gnueabihf-debug.tar.gz
0f8ad170892da62a5387603b6abd8fafa0242eb932d87a7a51583ddbe1e301a9 bitcoin-0.14.6-arm-linux-gnueabihf.tar.gz
82f8ffe4a76830b7ebe0b5a7ff36e0e22450a313644cc2c5df05a32fd66e2482 bitcoin-0.14.6-i686-pc-linux-gnu-debug.tar.gz
984832d76e0af259691f28f57ae5dee08046fadbe18dbe759153433a7aabcc12 bitcoin-0.14.6-i686-pc-linux-gnu.tar.gz
5543548f2421cffca5aa05b3064883b49f5d523ca56fe05c500fb59f0ab9b217 bitcoin-0.14.6-osx64.tar.gz
478f98966eb5a55b9ef58ca45c6f3301722f616b57211d7a8b11807f301e29a2 bitcoin-0.14.6-osx-unsigned.dmg
1c3a8957a8d061c828b6fdb3abc3734304caa2acb540ccce17cad296bf6cad22 bitcoin-0.14.6-osx-unsigned.tar.gz
c0ed4c451c54bbbc3b516516da07260a69000747f42834b31063ee1ec0ce21b5 bitcoin-0.14.6-win32-debug.zip
9d97163a0b1a86fa0d9e02f347af258df050b0f4880dee72061e56259f2d4d91 bitcoin-0.14.6-win32-setup-unsigned.exe
5bc741ec1d1aba6a1a1a86410d567e3bfc74676bb0ed65c10e3ae8b5fcc6689d bitcoin-0.14.6-win32.zip
d26485323f577a44bef2f0c0dde04e592c71f33b71d30ae1c93faafaf9bcbb5f bitcoin-0.14.6-win64-debug.zip
c75d1b32bd7bb22628aa379aafd6866ed88ddaaf5b5e30897fe11d503126b016 bitcoin-0.14.6-win64-setup-unsigned.exe
d5721b246ff4189da853cd12d8d66b14496d7e64a6ecbb330423488cfc0e116d bitcoin-0.14.6-win64.zip
7a70db3a250df5034a78b1fd1900e792dc0ba9416f519627701633efb0f483a8 bitcoin-0.14.6-win-unsigned.tar.gz
c45ac452497c0a3dd738b9ef3845314c092bbc4c9b6bffaa9b340ebd945deb64 bitcoin-0.14.6-x86_64-linux-gnu-debug.tar.gz
9f37b8ec36a37944b016bbbf07340adb8ba644abb897b2d2e0edeb99ccf709c0 bitcoin-0.14.6-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
595238e647255265299b0f17dfe0ba37083cf17a926049371da8a4be2a261c59 src/bitcoin-0.14.6.tar.gz
-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNATURE-----
HMP1qGgx9iTWDUnGyDe+ierLNI0REA/NgioRj3n6fqPs2Cok+ruk3Zz0YNEZibNd
NiahwOESZYPJd52oRgEHjTk=
=uvUp
-----END BITCOIN SIGNATURE-----
Thanks to all who made this release possible and are supporting Bitcoin ABC.
Further links:
Official ABC website: https://www.bitcoinabc.org/
Official ABC Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bitcoin_ABC
Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinABC/
Forum: https://bitco.in/forum/forums/bitcoin-abc.25/
Support slack (currently at BTCfork): self-invite via https://btcforks.signup.team/
This blog is powered by ikiwiki.