Bitcoin Cash Community Discusses ‘On Markets and Pre-Consensus’ Paper

A new protocol has been suggested for Bitcoin cash. The protocol is featured in a paper published by Amaury Sechet and it is called pre-consensus. According to the paper, the purpose of the protocol is to improve block propagation time, it can delegate decisions related to consensus conditions, and it may also benefit zero-confirmation reliability.

The paper, entitled On Markets and Pre-Consensus, discusses how the protocol can aid market participants agree about the upcoming block size. According to Peter Rizum, who also discussed the consensus at Satoshi’s Vision Conference in Tokyo:

“Even before Bitcoin Cash was a thing, I was promoting the idea of per-consensus – this refers to a set of technologies allowing network participants to agree as much as possible on what the next block is going to look like.” Further, “If done well, this provides significantly stronger 0-conf guarantee that we currently have, while also allowing to reach greater scale by moving work out of the critical path (if a node know what the next block is going to look like, a lot of vacation work can be done ahead of time.”

Sechet also explained the importance of addressing the pre-consensus sooner, rather than alter. As Sechet stated, it is a “zero progress” and “[w]hile all these projects have value, it is clear that I need to ruthlessly prioritize pre-consensus.” Sechet further emphasized “The actions I have to take along the way will surely irritate many, but this is too important not to be tackled now.”

https://twitter.com/ProfFaustus/status/1020192188280451072

The paper has been shared on twitter by Nchain’s chief scientist Craig Wright and his own opinion wasn’t favorable. According to Wright,

“No hash goes to this crap – they want it, they fork it, without us” and “without the apps using our code, our IP etc. – Without the companies, we have invested in.”

Such a comment has led to a strong wave of debate concerning the pre-consensus.

Although Wright’ commentary has been negative, others seem to be supportive, such as Ryan X Charles, who is the founder of Yours.org. He has discussed the consensus favorably in one of his most recent videos.

At this point, the debate is ongoing and only time will tell whether it will be adopted.