A considerable amount of time has passed since the last community update and things have gotten a bit quiet in the social channels, so, let’s take a look at what’s going on in the background.

“All Your (Re)base Are Belong To Us!”

As most of you know, the Rebase initiative is arguably the single most important development effort within BTCP.

“Why is it so important?”

BTCP is a fork of ZClassic, which is a fork of ZCash, which is a fork of Bitcoin.

This means we are using the same code base that ZCash used and it is three years behind the current Bitcoin codebase. Three years is a long time in terms of technology and many upgrades have been completed since then.

Updating to the latest (0.16) version of the Bitcoin codebase truly makes BTCP a Bitcoin fork not just in name, but in substance.

Features which were previously pipedreams, such as Lightning Network, BIP32 (HD Wallets), Full SegWit support (not just claiming as we currently have) are coming to be a reality!

“But what do those things really mean?”

Let’s take a closer look at what each of these features can do for BTCP.

Lightning Network

Lightning Network(LN) is a second layer solution initially developed for Bitcoin but has been adopted by several other altcoins such as Litecoin, Ripple, Groestlcoin, Syscoin etc.

This second layer solution is basically a network that sits on top of the MainNet that allows channels to be opened directly between users. Due to the fact that these transactions are only occurring between two (consenting) users, the transactions don’t have to be broadcast to the whole network like a traditional transaction would. This allows transactions to be near instant and with little to no fee!

There are other features that LN enables currently and one we are very excited for, Atomic Swaps! For those of you who don’t know what an Atomic Swap is, it is the ability to transact one coin for another (LN enabled coin) direct, no need for a 3rd party such as an exchange to trade your LTC (or other LN enabled coin) directly to BTCP!

BIP-32 (Hierarchical Deterministic Wallet)

BIP stands for Bitcoin Improvement Proposal.

BIP-32 specifically allows for HD wallets which put simply, is a Public/Private Key tree all stemming from the same root.

This allows you to use the same seed for many different crypto wallets!

Image source: https://medium.com/bitcraft/hd-wallets-explained-from-high-level-to-nuts-and-bolts-9a41545f5b0

Credit: BIP 32

Full SegWit Support

When most hear mention of SegWit (Segregated Witness) the first thing that comes to mind is scaling of the Bitcoin network. This removes signature data (Witness) from the transaction and appends it to the end as a separate structure.

What most people don’t realize is SegWit actually resolved some security issues!

SegWit resolves the issue of transaction malleability.

A transaction on the blockchain is referred to by it’s hash (or txid), and it’ value is added to the Merkle Tree for that block. Additionally the transaction is signed by the Private Key associated with the Input (Sender).

Transaction malleability is the ability for an attacker to modify the txid of unconfirmed transactions while still keeping the transaction valid. This change of the txid, makes all child (subsequent) transactions invalid. Example: Imagine two hash values, 135, and 0135; they are essentially the same value but on the ledger if a Transaction Malleability Attack were occuring, it would invalidate the subsequent transaction.

As some of you may know, BTCP currently supports partial SegWit support, meaning claiming and spending can only be done from the Full Node Wallet

The Rebase will include Full SegWit support so you SegWit holders out there can finally move your coins around!

“But wait! There’s more”

Included with the Rebase comes the much anticipated (and highly debated) Equihash parameter change! Bitcoin Private will make the move to Equihash 192,7; which effectively increase the amount of memory required to hash the algorithm. This change will thwart the Equihash ASIC miners, like the BitMain AntMiner Z9 and Z9 Mini, that recently shipped to users. This brings BTCP back into the world of ASIC resistance and happy GPU miners.

The Rebase is a wonderful thing, but it’s not the only thing to look forward to in BTCP’s future.

“So what comes after the Rebase?”

The Rebase provides a solid base to start building more features while at the same time, allows the team to quickly merge future Bitcoin upgrades into BTCP!

As Bitcoin continues to grow and evolve, so does Bitcoin Private!

Having BTCP be concurrent with Bitcoin also enables us to easily implement BTCP into any Bitcoin ecosystem product!

Once the Rebase is in place, other features can begin to come to life such as the One-Click Miner, TOR to TOR nodes for added privacy (and a shiny new TOR wallet to match), and the Dandelion protocol! (Because privacy!)

Bitcoin Private and BountySource

Call To All Developers

Image Source: https://github.com/BTCPrivate/BTCP-Rebase/issues/66

With such an ambitious roadmap, there’s always room for new developers within the project! We have recently started a BountySource page to allow external developers to resolve GitHub issues and be rewarded!

Can’t Code? Don’t Worry!

Many community members, like myself, couldn’t code to save their lives! Thankfully, BountySource still allows us to contribute and help drive the development of this project!

Anyone can donate any amount to specific issues or donate to the Project and let them allocate the funds amongst issues!

I personally sent some fiat that way via PayPal and was done in minutes!

Bitcoin Private Community Takes Action!