Explain Drivechains like I'm 5 \ stacker news ~bitcoin

2432 sats \ 13 comments \ @ruS7Y 19 Sep 2023 bitcoin

Looking for a good explanation of what exactly are Drivechains.

1000 sats bounty

1,000 sats bounty

ruS7Y's bounties

692 sats \ 5 replies \ @Ksjznxnxkxksn 19 Sep 2023

Sending bitcoin to special address (This special address that cointain locked Bitcoin is controlled by at least 51% of the total hashrate on the drivechain ) On this new network, certain parameter of the real Bitcoin network could be ignored

Example : shorter block time, bigger blocksize, new feature, somehow faster tx, etc etc

If you want to use a real Bitcoin again then you must publish a new tx that basically say " hey let me use my Bitcoin again, i'm done playing on this network"

The miners will check the validity of your tx, if enough hashrate agree to your tx then your locked Bitcoin would be sent to whatever address you intended to be

If not enough miner agree even if you provide an honest tx then you're out of luck

Oh wait this is ELI 25 lol

21 sats \ 3 replies \ @Zepasta 19 Sep 2023

deleted by author

61 sats \ 2 replies \ @Ksjznxnxkxksn 19 Sep 2023

1 The user itself

2 & 3

Here is what i understand from onchain confirmation :

Every miner will try to put lots of txs on their version of new block.
After they done, they will compete to find secret number.
Whoever gets the nonce CORRECTLY get to publish the new block to the network.
After that, Full nodes has to verify the validity of every txs inside that newly submitted block, if all tx are valid full nodes will update their ledger to adds that new block and tell other nodes " yo new block just coming, still warm, you better check this out "
The gossip about that block will propagate across the network, and while this is happening the first step is happening simultaneously.
Congrats that was counted as 1 confirmation, all txs inside this new block needs to be "buried" with another even newer 6 block ( hence 6 confirmations ) as a standard to be called safe from double-spending risk

I believe when you publish special tx ( peg in ) you are telling the network " hey i want to use drivechain, i will lock this Bitcoin until i'm done playing there "

Wait for several confs
Boom you get new coin on the drivechain ( but you cant move your onchain sats )
When you want to go back using onchain sats you also publish special tx " hey take this weird coin back, i need my real Bitcoin to be sent to this specific address "

Here is when drivechain miners will decide your fate, if all miners are honest and assuming your tx is correct ( no double spending ) at the very least huge amount of hashrate ( lots of bitcoin MINING POWER ) has to burn that special Bitcoin and unlocked your initial Bitcoin

Onchain miner does not has to be drivechain miner. "Merge miner" are term for computer/ASIC that runs consensus on both base layer & drivechain at the same time.

Keep that in mind drivechain won't be as secure as onchain as a result, that's why if rogue actor want to mess drivechain consensus by stealing ASIC and pretend as miner, they could reject/censor tx therefore Bitcoin there could stuck forever. Rogue miners could also steal locked bitcoin.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Zepasta 19 Sep 2023

"Keep that in mind drivechain won't be as secure as onchain as a result, that's why if rogue actor want to mess drivechain consensus by stealing ASIC and pretend as miner, they could reject/censor tx therefore Bitcoin there could stuck forever. Rogue miners could also steal locked bitcoin."

What if the rogue miner only has 51% of hashrate, can the others 49% hashrate miners accept my tx ?
How can rogue miners steal locked bitcoin? Because they control the initial on-chain address where i deposited the "real" btc?

4 sats \ 0 replies \ @Ksjznxnxkxksn 19 Sep 2023

I read it somewhere vividly drivechain require more than 51% consensus but forget where did i read that.

AFAIK the locked address is controlled by hashrate escrow provided by drivechain miners, so again drivechain miners could be rogue actor.

Anyway drivechain was proposed as a extra source of security budget, if cost of mining falls faster than hashrate can go up then onchain mining will still be competitively profitable. Second reason is no amount of dumbness & censorship can hold Bitcoin adoption forever, as the time goes on more & more people will abandon fiat & find ways to stack more sats therefore productivity will rise overall thus each sats will increase in value over time

"Everything divided by 21.000.000" but on my lifetime probably only 20 mils lol with quarter of em being lost

But if drivechain guys wanna do it that's their business

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 19 Sep 2023

Oh wait this is ELI 25 lol

well said. kids don't play with adults toys.

106 sats \ 3 replies \ @SatoshisSkeleton 19 Sep 2023

So you and your friends build a clubhouse tree fort.

And you all agree to form like a Tree Fort club, and you want to make sure only the members of your club can get in. So you get a special lock and only you and those friends have a key to the fort.

Now, picture a treasure chest inside your clubhouse, and this chest holds all the cool stuff that your club loves. And each toy is bound by magic to only be played with in the clubhouse.

(Insert your favourite stuff as a kid here). Except it's all of your most valuable toys and treasure!

Now there's a new kid who wants in the group and he comes up with an idea to replace the lock with a new one. It's the "drivechain" lock.

The drivechain he says, let's call him Milhouse, can still only be used by members of your club, with the right secret code, and can open the treasure chest...

But now they're allowed to take the toys home.

Or even to other kids' tree forts... or even to trade the toy for other "things" and maybe even items to build a new tree fort.

And while some other forts are just like yours, some aren't. Some are full of kids who want to steal from people and keep stolen toys there. Or even worse.

So all the member of the club have to agree to this new lock. And some aren't sure. And some have questions. And some have real concerns about how this might effect and change the club.

Some members even suggest a good alternative that they support Milhouse to go build a replica fort beside theirs and test out the new "drivechain" lock and report back to them how it works.

But instead, Milhouse refuses and brings 2 of his friends to some bushes nearby to yell stuff about the lock situation. And when the club members look outside the 2 friends run away on their bikes.

So now the club members go back to playing with their awesome toys and treasure.

1120 sats \ 0 replies \ @SatoshisSkeleton 19 Sep 2023

Wait. Except the kids are really Paw Patrol Pups. And the "friend" is the evil mayor Humdinger.

5 sats \ 1 reply \ @2bithits 19 Sep 2023

5 year old it is!

5 sats \ 0 replies \ @SatoshisSkeleton 19 Sep 2023

💯 exactly.

71 sats \ 0 replies \ @jgbtc 19 Sep 2023

You know when you're playing a really fun game with your friends and everyone is having fun and getting along, but then the annoying kid comes over and wants to play too but also change the rules so he can get whatever he wants and always win, so then you and your friends tell him to get lost? That's drivechains.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @TheBTCManual 19 Sep 2023

Miners create their own little boys club and promise to secure the Bitcoin in that club and while they hold on to the funds they unlock the funds for users on a side chain or side chains where you can go nuts, change the protocols and add whatever features you like, they secure the blocks and earn fees on those side chains too, and they manage the funds that go in and out of those side chains, while money can go into the boys club easy, it takes months to be pulled out

Miners can collude and rug you if they want to but the incentive to bag more fees throguh chains with more throughput is meant to keep them hoenst

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @m4 19 Sep 2023

Unnecessary complexity without benefits.