The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) chain often advertises how it can upgrade using hard forks (usually indicating how easy it is). 

It sounds all well, but in order to do this, you must have centralized control over the chain such that these hard forks can be pushed down to all clients.  If clients (i.e. miners) don't upgrade their code, then they will be working on the old chain while everyone else moves on.

With centralization comes risk.  The risk that a person or entity in control can act in a way that is not a consensus decision.  This is exactly the risk that has materialized on BCH.

Amaury Séchet is the lead developer of Bitcoin ABC (the reference implementation for BCH).  He announced that in November 2020 there will be an upgrade on BCH.

He plans to try another "fix" for the BCH difficulty adjustment algorithm (DAA) which by the way suffers from low hashpower in comparison to BTC - and miners "gaming" the chain.  I'm not going to comment on the issues with the DAA here - the second change is the real point of issue.

The second improvement is the addition of a new Coinbase Rule.

How can the coinbase rule be "improved" you ask?

The Coinbase Rule improvement is as follows: All newly mined blocks must contain an output assigning 8% of the newly mined coins to a specified address.

And who owns that address?  - yes, the developers (Amaury).  Basically, they are taxing each new block with an 8% tax rate. 

Ask yourself - how can this be the consensus.  Well, it isn't.  And I hope it is clear at this point that BCH is NOT a decentralized currency.

Does this sound like Bitcoin to you?

New Script language overlay for Bitcoin - Hello min.sc

Creating scripts for Bitcoin is not easy by default. In my opinion this language doesn't resemble anything popular at all. And this dependency was noticed by many people trying to improve and simplify the scripting by creating different kinds of translators. First, there was the Miniscript project, which changed a lot in this matter by simplifying syntax and adding (or facilitating) the implementation of many useful functions. Now min.sc goes one step further by "opening" the language to the average programmer. At the bottom you have two codes. On the left is pure Script, on the right Min.sc. Of course if you don't know any programming languages then you don't understand any code, but I know PHP (So quite a low shelf of programmers :P) As such I read the one on the right. Objectively looking at this code on the right reminds me of PHP, and this is a plus for me :P

Script:	Min.sc:
4 <A> <B> <C> <D> <E> 5 OP_CHECKMULTISIG OP_IFDUP OP_NOTIF   OP_DUP OP_HASH160 <HASH160(F)> OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG OP_TOALTSTACK OP_DUP   OP_HASH160 <HASH160(G)> OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG OP_FROMALTSTACK OP_ADD   OP_TOALTSTACK OP_DUP OP_HASH160 <HASH160(H)> OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG   OP_FROMALTSTACK OP_ADD 2 OP_EQUALVERIFY <313c40> OP_CHECKSEQUENCEVERIFY OP_ENDIF	$federation = 4 of [ pk(A), pk(B), pk(C), pk(D), pk(E) ]; $recovery = 2 of [ pk(F), pk(G), pk(H) ]; $timeout = older(3 months); [email protected]$federation || ($timeout && $recovery)

https://min.sc/

"Independence Day"

On August 1, we celebrated Bitcoin Independence Day. It is a situation in which various people wanting to take over the network, making it impossible to activate Segwit, and then activating it "on condition" that the size of the block increases. The attack failed ;)

It's worth remembering this day, especially when a new Soft Fork is being prepared, which is pushing Bitcoin forward again, while attackers may not want to activate it.

First tranche of the Infinite Fleet collected

Samson is "lucky." The fundraising campaign announced at BnkToTheFuture was successful, providing him with 255,000 dollars. In return, investors will receive a token in the Liquid network allowing them to earn dividends from the game. Infinite Fleet is to be a powerful MMO game set in space. The only thing that comes to my mind is EVE Online. But what makes me happy is the high quality (presented) audiovisual setting.

Lightning Network Summary

Youtube channel - Bitcoin for Beginners decided to sum up 2 quarters of Lightning's development. Of course, the film is about realized things and adoptions.

Nowa nakładka na język Script dla Bitcoina - Witaj minsc

Tworzenie skryptów dla Bitcoina nie jest domyślnie łatwą rzeczą. Moim zdaniem ten język zupełnie nie przypomina niczego popularnego. I tę zależność zauważyło wiele osób starając się go ulepszyć i uprościć w zapisie tworząc różnego rodzaju translatory (tłumacze). Najpierw powstał projekt Miniscript, który sporo w tej materii zmienił upraszczając składnię i dodając (lub ułatwiając) implementację wielu przydatnych funkcji. Teraz min.sc idzie o krok dalej jeszcze bardziej "otwierając" ten język dla przeciętnych programistów. Na dole macie dwa kody. Po lewej czysty Script, po prawej Min.sc. Oczywiście jeśli nie znacie języków programowania to żaden zapis Wam nie podpasuje, ale ja znając PHP (Czyli dość niska półka programistów :P) Jako tako odczytuję ten po prawej. Obiektywnie patrząc ten kod po prawej strasznie przypomina mi PHP, a to dla mnie plus :P

Kod Script:	Kod Min.sc:
4 <A> <B> <C> <D> <E> 5 OP_CHECKMULTISIG OP_IFDUP OP_NOTIF   OP_DUP OP_HASH160 <HASH160(F)> OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG OP_TOALTSTACK OP_DUP   OP_HASH160 <HASH160(G)> OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG OP_FROMALTSTACK OP_ADD   OP_TOALTSTACK OP_DUP OP_HASH160 <HASH160(H)> OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG   OP_FROMALTSTACK OP_ADD 2 OP_EQUALVERIFY <313c40> OP_CHECKSEQUENCEVERIFY OP_ENDIF	$federation = 4 of [ pk(A), pk(B), pk(C), pk(D), pk(E) ]; $recovery = 2 of [ pk(F), pk(G), pk(H) ]; $timeout = older(3 months); [email protected]$federation || ($timeout && $recovery)

https://min.sc/

"Dzień niepodległości"

1 Sierpnia obchodziliśmy Bitcoinowy dzień niepodległości. Chodzi o sytuację, w której rożne chcące przejąć sieć najpierw uniemożliwiając aktywację Segwit, a później aktywując go "pod warunkiem" zwiększenia rozmiaru bloku. Ani jeden ani drugi atak się nie udał ;)

Warto pamiętać o tym dniu, szczególnie gdy przygotowywany jest nowy Soft Fork, który znowu pchnie Bitcoina do przodu, podczas gdy atakujący mogą nie chcieć go aktywować.

Pierwsza transza środków na Infinite Fleet zebrana

Samsonowi Mowowi "poszczęściło się". Ogłoszona na BnkToTheFuture akcja zebrania środków zakończyła się powodzeniem dostarczając jemu 255 000 dolarów. W zamian inwestorzy dostaną token w sieci Liquid pozwalający im na zdobywanie dywidend z gry. Infinite Fleet ma być potężną grą MMO osadzoną w kosmosie. Jedyne co mi przychodzi do głowy to EVE Online. Jednak to co cieszy to wysokiej jakości (prezentowana) oprawa audiowizualna.

Podsumowanie Lightninga

Kanał na Youtube - Bitcoin for Beginners postanowił podsumować 2 kwartały rozwoju Lightninga. Film jest po angielsku, ale myślę, że dacie radę go przeanalizować ;) Oczywiście film opowiada o zrealizowanych rzeczach i adopcjach, nie wdrażanych

Remember the historic launch of the Commercial Crew Dragon on May 30? Well, the two astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken are coming down again. They expect to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico tomorrow (August 2) evening at 20;48 CET. It will be historic again, the first return of a commercially operated vehicle with a human crew! Make sure to watch it! As I write this, they are actually preparing the return, watch below!

"Buy Virtual Private Server using Lightning Network payments. Very fast and cheap VPS. We have already sold hundreds of VPS. Payment in bitcoins is now available. We issue VAT invoices after purchase. Buy without registration. Without creating an account. Simple and quick purchase!"

https://ln-vps.remoteadmin.store/

Mempool.space on the main screen informs about the range of transaction fees in specific blocks

This allows us to easily estimate what fees should be set for the transaction to fall into the block - or what fees were in just mined blocks.

If you have a shop running on Magento engine and you use Bleumi Pay ...

Then you can accept payments in Dollar on Chain - In a real Bitcoin Stablecoin.

RSK has ATH users

The large transaction fees in the Ethereum network and the ever-increasing development of RSK's architecture are affecting popularity. Yes - it is still marginal. But it has managed to make RSK have more than 30,000 users.

If you don't know what RSK is, it is a Bitcoin sidechain dedicated to smart contracts. On this platform there are some stablecoins, decentralised exchanges, domains and few other interesting projects.

Utreexo demo released - technology for easy and cheap installation of Bitcoin nodes

It is not a finished product, but you can install a special Bitcoin node (btcd, in the future there will be support for Bitcoin Core) using Utreexo. The design itself is not recommended for use in Mainnet, but is a step in the right direction.

https://github.com/mit-dci/utreexo

https://medium.com/mit-media-lab-digital-currency-initiative/utreexo-demonstration-release-a0d87506fd70

Lightning Paywall - a compromise between free internet browsing and making money

A group of programmers supported by the Mozilla Foundation decided to create the satotious.comproject. The aim of the project is to create a system that allows you to earn Satoshi in two ways:

- The "richer" users can simply buy access to an article for e.g. symbolic 1 satoshi

- "Poorer" users can see an advertisement that will unlock access to the site

You can read more about the project on the website:

https://satotious.com/

Tether co-finances Lightning's development - will they leave the Ethereum?

High fees on Ethereum hinder Tether from developing their stablecoin. Paolo Ardorio on twitter announced that Tether's company is working on developing an RGB protocol to create smart contracts and tokens on Lightning Network to complete the protocol development by the end of 2020. Lightning Network and RGB will allow considerable savings in USDT transfer between users if this solution can be implemented.

"Increased Bitcoin network fees and wait times could easily be avoided by using Lightning Network, but many users fear complexity. Let’s take a look at the most beginner-friendly ways to get started with LN.

You don’t have to be a power user to use Lightning Network

There are many guides written about the Lightning Network aimed towards more technically-inclined users, who are not afraid to run their own node, or get their hands dirty on the command line. This guide is not for those users.

This guide is to show you how easy it is for anyone to quickly start using the Lightning Network in minutes, so you can start making instant payments, avoid rising Bitcoin transaction fees, or getting your transaction caught in the mempool, and sidestep long confirmation delays  (...)"

https://blog.bitrefill.com/an-absolute-beginners-guide-to-start-using-the-lightning-network-62623afdefce

NASA's 2.4 Billion dollar Mars rover Perseverance is set to launch to the red planet on July 30 at 13:50 CET. This is the third mission to Mars this summer, as both the UAE Hope probe and the Chinese Tianwen-1 mission are allready on their ways. Watch the Perseverance launch live via the NASA Live TV YouTube link below! Perseverance should land on Mars on February 18, 2021.

There is lots of heritage from the Curiosity rover that landed on Mars in August 2012, in the Perseverance rover. The chassis is mostly identical but the science instruments are all significantly upgraded or entirely new. There is even a cache on-board where samples for a future Mars Sample Return mission could be stored. As there is no drill on-board, I actually doubt if this is sufficiently interesting for a Sample Return mission. I put my bet for this on the European Space Agency (ESA) ExoMars rover, to be launched to Mars in 2022. This rover has a drill that could go as deep as 2 mtrs down the surface. Samples from these depths will be less scarred by the brutal radiation levels at Martian surface level, that would have dimnished and/or destroyed any complex biological molecules.

I hope to get involved again professionally in the Mars Sample Return mission. I was already involved in ESA's Mission studies back in 2004. It's a very complex mission with lots of interesting robotics and automation. One of the interesting technological challenges will be to secure that the samples recovered will not be forward contaminated from Earth biology by the retrieving hardware. At the same time, seal technology needs to be in place to encapsulate retrieved samples, without potentially contaminating the hardware with Martian (harmfull biology), that could theoretically whipe out humanity when exposed. Allthough I believe the chances are incredibly slim for this to happen, I still think the so-called Planetary Protection guidelines are important to follow. Black swans happen...