Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] Coins: A trustless sidechain protocol

From: Robin Linus <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2020 08:21:36 +0000

Goog morning ZmnSCPxj,

>     Unless of course you propose to have the sidechain issue its own coin, in which case it is not much more than an altcoin.

Okay, call it an altcoin consensus mechanism. Because sidechains do have to issue their own coins.

Still, I am not proposing independent altcoins. Bitcoin is the only unit of account. I am proposing bitcoin derivatives only as means of bitcoin transfer. Think of gold vs cash.

>     Still, the real-world value of the total block rewards for that altcoin will have to match the real-world value of the total block rewards of Bitcoin in order to have security even approaching Bitcoin.

My point is that, assuming equal rewards, PoW and bitcoin-backed PoS do offer the same level of security.

So in theory, you are right. In practice, a sidechain does not need to be as secure as bitcoin. It requires only a sufficient user base.

Thanks again for your detailed answer,
-Robin