Drivechain
Also · BIP300 · BIP301 · Blind merged mining
A drivechain is a proposed kind of sidechain, BIP300 and BIP301, where Bitcoin miners hold the peg and release withdrawals by voting over months. It is not activated and divides the community.
Paul Sztorc’s drivechains would add to Bitcoin a soft fork letting anyone create sidechains whose locked BTC sits in an escrow controlled by miners. Withdrawals are proposed, then approved if miners signal for them over a long period, months by design, so that a theft would be visible and resistible. BIP301 adds blind merged mining, so sidechains are secured by Bitcoin hashrate without miners running their software.
Supporters see a way to experiment with any feature, privacy, smart contracts or bigger blocks, without touching the main chain. Critics object that it hands miners custody of users’ coins and an incentive to collude, and that the sidechains’ risks would leak back into Bitcoin’s reputation. Both BIPs remain drafts and the debate has run for a decade.
In French · Drivechain
