Andre De Castro’s Views on the Block Size Debate: A “Bit” Nuts or Spot On?

As CEO and founder of Blockchain of Things, Inc., Andre De Castro has a penchant for being a bit of a rebel rouser. As an active participant in the Bitcoin community and industry since 2010, he has worked as a software developer, investor, trader, advisor, and U.S. policy influencer. His early understanding of the vast, untapped potential of blockchain technology for multiple industry sectors led him to launch Blockchain of Things in 2014 and the Catenis Enterprise™ platform.

A thoughtful critic of the Internet of Things, De Castro has been on a quest to foster an internet layer for rapid Bitcoin blockchain integration. The goal? To simplify and accelerate secure global peer-to-peer edge device messaging, digital asset control, immutable data recording and other enterprise-related solutions for the business sector.

In 2013 he had the audacity to approach FinCEN on his own accord for to gain clarification on several onerous regulations that were having a chilling effect on Bitcoin’s advancement. He received a somewhat surprising administrative ruling on his action early the following year that is widely credited with opening new avenues for corporations and startups to facilitate U.S.-based cryptocurrency activity. Says De Castro, “That ruling allowed me to buy and sell bitcoin with the Fed’s blessings. It was very unique for me to get this ruling. To this day, law firms, in fact, frequently come up to me and inquire about how I able to gain FinCEN’s approval to do this.”

These days, De Castro has a few uncommon thoughts on the contentious block size debate that has the worldwide Bitcoin community on edge. “It sort of saddens me because I would like to see both sides work together. As a loyal bitcoin guy, I would hope that the Core enthusiasts would get past not wanting to negotiate because in my view there should be an increase in block size. I also believe that SegWit is good for the industry and its future.”

De Castro gets annoyed with all of the talk about slow blockchain transaction speeds. “Are you kidding me!” he shouts with his native East Coast accent. “Bitcoin transactions on average across 55 percent of the network occur at 400 milliseconds. The reality is that the only reason why we wait for confirmations in the Bitcoin world is because of counterparty risk.”

Continues De Castro:

“People who say there is a limit of seven transactions per second don’t know how the blockchain really works. They fail to separate the difference between sending a transaction and getting that transaction added to the blockchain.”

Say What?

De Castro believes that a split between Core and Unlimited may ultimately be a great thing for investment minded Bitcoin community enthusiasts in the long run. Says De Castro: “The elephant in the room which no one is talking about is the fact that what people really should be doing is buying as many bitcoins as possible. Because some of us, not all of us know what exactly happened with Ethereum. People with ether who did nothing when the Ethereum fork happened found that they had a significant bump in their return. So why isn’t anyone talking about this.”

He goes on to say that those who hold a lot of money on the Bitcoin Unlimited side have a huge financial incentive for the fork to occur. “Why are we seeing a bunch of exchanges say ‘we’re going to support both blockchains.’ Because everyone makes out like a pig. And guess what? It’s the same for Core. Don’t tell me that the guys from Core aren’t sitting there saying ‘shit if it does happen it happens.’ They know what’s exactly going to happen.”

De Castro is convinced that every single financial player in each camp is going to make sure that the price stays high, and everyone is going to make out like a pig. “So why isn’t Core aggressively fighting this. Because there is no real financial incentive to fight it.”

Concludes De Castro with a bang:

“People aren’t talking about it because no one wants to admit it. No one wants to admit that exchanges make out like pigs; no one wants to admit that Core also has the same incentives that someone who holds a lot of cryptocurrency on the BU side has. Sure you’d be a fool if you didn’t want the (blockchain) technology to be solid. But still, at the end of the day, there’s going to be a solid chain. Actually, two solid chains, really. At the end of the day, 90 percent of the people out there are speculators. And they don’t seem to realize what happened to people who held Ethereum and didn’t react. Those folks made out like bandits.”