BICLE v0.1 — The Decentralized Feed Protocol

BICLE v0.1, an experimental protocol that applies Bitcoin's principles to journalism.

TL;DR: Immutable blockchain of news. SHA-256 hashing. Tamper-proof records. Open source.

The Problem

News can be silently edited. Articles disappear. No cryptographic proof of "what was said when."

We trust institutions to preserve truth. But institutions can be compromised.

There's no immutable, public ledger of information.

Until now.

The Solution: BICLE

BICLE (Blockchain Information Curation Ledger) creates a tamper-proof record of news using blockchain technology.

How it works:

1. Every news item gets a unique hash (iHash):

iHash = SHA256(title + link + source + timestamp)

2. News items are grouped into blocks:

Up to 5 news per block
Each block has a blockHash (computed from all iHashes)
Each block points to previous block's hash

3. Result: Immutable chain of information

Change one news → breaks the chain
Anyone can verify integrity
Full audit trail with timestamps

Technical Comparison: Bitcoin vs BICLE

Aspect	Bitcoin	BICLE
Purpose	Decentralize money	Decentralize information
Proof	Proof-of-Work	Proof-of-Information
Content	Transactions	News items
Hashing	SHA-256	SHA-256
Consensus	Longest valid chain	Longest valid chain (future)
Network	Global P2P	Centralized (v0.1) → P2P (v0.2+)

Genesis Block

Like Bitcoin's genesis block referenced:

"The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks"

BICLE's genesis block (Nov 5, 2025) references:

"The Guardian 05/Nov/2025 — On the brink of a financial crisis for AIs in companies" https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/nov/05/global-stock-markets-fall-sharply-over-ai-bubble-fears Two financial crises. Two protocols. One philosophy: decentralization.

"But You're Using Centralized Sources?"

Yes. Here's why:

BICLE v0.1 is infrastructure, not the final product.

Bitcoin didn't eliminate banks overnight — it created the foundation for alternatives to emerge.

BICLE v0.1 creates an immutable record of existing sources. Future versions will enable fully decentralized journalism.

Evolution Path:

v0.1 → Immutable record of centralized sources
v0.2 → P2P node network
v0.3 → NOSTR integration + Lightning rewards
v1.0 → Community-produced, community-validated news

We're building the infrastructure that enables decentralized journalism to exist.

✅ RSS aggregation (24+ sources: Bitcoin Core, Ars Technica, The Guardian, etc.)
✅ Community submissions (/submit command)
✅ Blockchain storage (JSON, easily auditable)
✅ Integrity verification (/verify command)
✅ Auto-mining (every 5 minutes)
✅ Full export for independent verification
✅ Open source (MIT License)

Use Cases

1. Verify Historical Claims
Politician: "I never said that."
BICLE: Shows timestamped, hashed proof from 3 years ago

2. Prevent Memory-Holing
News site deletes controversial article.
BICLE: iHash and timestamp prove it existed

3. Whistleblower Protection
Anonymous submission with cryptographic timestamp.
BICLE: Proof information existed before investigation

4. Community Journalism
Local event ignored by mainstream media.
BICLE: Community member submits, creates permanent record

Run Your Own Node

git clone https://github.com/bicle01/bicle-protocol
cd bicle-protocol
pip install -r requirements.txt
python bicle.py

Requirements:

Python 3.8+
Telegram Bot (from @BotFather)
100 MB storage

Commands: /mine, /verify, /submit, /export, /status

Roadmap

v0.1 (NOW) — Genesis + Telegram Bot + RSS
v0.2 (Future) — P2P node network
v0.3 (Future) — NOSTR + Lightning rewards
v1.0 (Future) — Full decentralization

The Vision

Imagine a world where:

✓ News cannot be silently deleted or edited
✓ Anyone can verify what was said and when
✓ Community validates journalism, not corporations
✓ Quality reporting is rewarded with Bitcoin (Lightning)
✓ No algorithm manipulates what you see
✓ Information flows freely, without censorship

Bitcoin taught us: "Don't trust, verify."

That principle works for money. It should work for information too.

Links

GitHub: https://github.com/bicle01/bicle-protocol
**BitcoinTalk:**https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5564751.new#new
Whitepaper:

This is v0.1. It's experimental. It's imperfect. But it's a start.

Just like Bitcoin was on January 3, 2009.

Satoshi gave us the tools to decentralize money.
Now we're using those tools to decentralize truth.

"In cryptography we trust."

https://archive.org/details/bicle-whitepaper

#bitcoin #open-source #decentralization

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @Scoresby 7h

I have a few questions:

What would your node do if there is more than one chain? (I see you mention it as planned for the future, but I'm curious how you will solve this)

What happens if someone mines into a block a news story that they fabricated?

What happens if the same block has two news stories that contradict each other?

102 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bicle OP 6h

https://archive.org/details/bicle-whitepaper https://github.com/bicle01/bicle-protocol

1. What would your node do if there is more than one chain? (I see you mention it as planned for the future, but I'm curious how you will solve this)

“How will you solve this?”
The question isn’t how I will solve it — it’s how we will, together, as the community evolves and embraces the concept.

In this early stage (v0.1), Bicle operates locally — each node maintains its own immutable ledger (blocks.json).
There’s no global consensus mechanism yet, which means temporary forks are natural — even desirable for experimentation.

Future versions (v0.2–v1.x) will introduce a proof-of-curation model:

Multiple nodes will be able to publish blocks independently
The network will converge on the most credible chain, based on:
- Source diversity
- Human validation
- Timestamp consistency
- Reputation of the node

Instead of computational consensus (like Bitcoin), Bicle will evolve toward social consensus — reputation-based, distributed, and auditable.
Each fork represents an alternate view of reality, later merged or weighted according to credibility metrics.

2. What happens if someone mines into a block a news story that they fabricated?

It’s impossible to fake without being seen.
Each news item generates a unique iHash. Once recorded, it becomes part of the permanent ledger.

If someone includes fabricated content, that act itself is visible forever.
This transparency allows future curators and nodes to flag it as disputed — without rewriting history.

Bicle acts as a timestamping layer for information: it proves when and what was published.
The truth layer emerges later, through community validation and cross-verification across independent nodes.

3. What happens if the same block has two news stories that contradict each other?

Contradictions are expected — and valuable.
Reality is multi-sourced and often conflicting.
Bicle’s goal is not to decide which is true, but to preserve every narrative immutably.

Over time (v0.3+), a reputation and weighting system will measure how often each source contradicts verified data.
Instead of censoring, Bicle contextualizes contradictions — allowing journalists, researchers, and historians to trace the evolution of narratives over time.

Bitcoin protects value from inflation.
Bicle protects information from manipulation.

The entire structure of Bicle — from hashing to chained blocks — is inspired by Bitcoin.
But instead of consensus through computation, Bicle seeks consensus through verification and information.