The 10 Commandments of Blockchain

Syscoin
4 min readSep 26, 2022

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It’s hard to go too long without referring back to Bitcoin, and rightfully so. Even if someone knows nothing about blockchain or crypto in general, they likely know the name of Bitcoin. It’s like the Coca-Cola of crypto. Satoshi Nakamoto gave the world a gift with vast ramifications it is difficult to believe even he anticipated. Without it, there definitely would not be Syscoin, nor Ethereum, no Binance nor crypto kitties and a lot of Bored Apes would just be code monkeys. Syscoin team members would not be changing the world, at least not in this way, and worst of all, most people in the crypto industry would have to go get real jobs with cubicles, time cards, and mandated lunch breaks.

Bitcoin is a part of the zeitgeist. It’s indelibly changed the lives of many people so far who are lucky enough to belong to a small minority of the global population. However, the number of people like ourselves whose lives have been altered by Bitcoin’s invention and its ripple effects is on a course to grow exponentially. Rollups are going to make blockchain not just more accessible, but imperceptible than ever before as they underlie applications the end user has no knowledge of.

As this technology becomes ubiquitous, it will force humanity to evolve to be more connected than it ever has been. The magnitude of this change will be felt by us all. Therefore, we have a responsibility to make it a positive one that empowers people, respects the sovereignty of the individual, and efficiently distributes resources in a manner that’s harmonious with the planet and life upon it. Thankfully, the groundwork has already been laid by Bitcoin and its trustless decentralized network accessible by anyone, anywhere in the world. Bitcoin is like Rome in that all roads lead to it, or at least they should. This is why Syscoin is built on top of its foundational security and all the utility added to it on our EVM side and Layer 2 is anchored to it. It is why we call on others to do the same in the face of those transitioning to centralized and censorable proof-of-stake alternatives. Bitcoin is a precious resource, not only financially speaking, but equitably.

Consequently, it is up to us to protect it. Just as the guiding philosophy of Bitcoin has helped us reach this point, Jag Sidhu has developed ten principles to help us respect Bitcoin and ensure we can continue to pass the gift on to future generations. We call them the Ten Commandments of Blockchain:

I. Bitcoin will remain the most decentralized and most secure Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) network in the world; we must tap into it for security of other ledgered systems.

II. Blockchain is a court, not a transaction processor.

III. Blockchains other than Bitcoin are in the business of selling block space and making the most optimal use of that space. The most optimal use will result in the most optimal blockchain.

IV. Minimal Viable Inflation is the strategy to make the most optimal decision for profitability in the ledger without sacrificing security or decentralization, according to the Bitcoin model.

V. We should tie into Bitcoin mining for security and not consensus due to Minimal Viable Inflation.

VI. Modular blockchain designs are demonstrably superior to monolithic design, which makes them the optimal use of block space and perpetual demand through Minimal Viable Inflation.

VII. Layer 1 data availability is the best and perhaps the only solution to long-term viability of modular blockchain design.

VIII. Interplanetary finance (the perpetual survival of this model) requires modular blockchain design because we must remove the element of time between economies across planets.

IX. Proof-of-Work is more inflation resistant and more secure against stealth attacks than Proof-of-Stake. It is better equipped to deal with black swan events as a result.

X. Blockchains are here to protect us from black swan events that occur externally or internally to the design of the blockchain. You should be secure under normal scenarios but also equally secure during adverse conditions.

Following these commands will ensure the Bitcoin ecosystem continues to proliferate as humankind does so along with it. Syscoin’s holistic approach is designed to provide the architecture for the decentralized supercomputer that gives the world the alternative networks needed to replace centralized legacy institutions. The ability to automate processes typically carried out by teams of people and efficiently allocate resources harmoniously with the environment in a way that empowers people from the bottom up rather than the top down is a means to reach a more equitable distribution of power. Bitcoin forms the technological bedrock of this system and the cornerstone of a more advanced civilization. By following this ethos, we choose to evolve, changing our world for the better, and as we shoot for the stars, we bring it with us.

-Syscoin

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Syscoin

Trustless Interoperability. Token & Asset Micro-Transactions. Bitcoin Core Compliant - Merge Mined.