{"id":119929,"date":"2018-04-05T11:11:25","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T15:11:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/?p=119929"},"modified":"2021-08-09T11:20:07","modified_gmt":"2021-08-09T15:20:07","slug":"i-dont-plan-on-returning-to-bitcoin-says-early-developer-mike-hearn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/news\/i-dont-plan-on-returning-to-bitcoin-says-early-developer-mike-hearn","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I Don\u2019t Plan on Returning to Bitcoin\u2019 Says Early Developer Mike Hearn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Hearn, a developer whose early work in Bitcoin was instrumental in driving adoption for less technical users, has said he doesn\u2019t intend to return to the project \u2014 even post-Bitcoin Cash (BCH). The Corda distributed ledger project he leads for R3 more accurately reflects his more radical vision for a world of decentralized, peer-to-peer applications, he said, free of Bitcoin\u2019s ideological battles and time constraints.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also see:\u00a0Co-Founder of Korean Exchange CoinNest Arrested in Seoul<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Join the\u00a0Bitsonline Telegram channel<\/a>\u00a0to get the latest Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and tech news updates:\u00a0https:\/\/t.me\/bitsonline<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Hearn, a confidant of Satoshi Nakamoto (though the two never met in person), was responsible for key early-stage Bitcoin projects like bitcoinj (the first Java library) and the popular MultiBit desktop wallet.<\/p>\n

He also worked with Bitcoin developers Gavin Andresen and Matt Corrallo on other enhancements, with developed (with Andresen) the first popular alternative node software (Bitcoin XT) and pioneered the concept of smart contracts.<\/p>\n

After taking a stance against the \u201csmall blockers\u201d in Bitcoin\u2019s years-long scaling war, Hearn infamously \u201crage quit\u201d the project with a widely-covered 2016 article\u00a0that claimed<\/a> he\u2019d sold all his BTC, and called Bitcoin a \u201cfailed experiment\u201d.<\/p>\n

Might Hearn Return for a Large-Block Bitcoin?<\/p>\n

Given the August 1st hard fork that created Bitcoin Cash and drew the interest of a number of Bitcoin OGs like Andresen and Craig Wright, many speculated Hearn might consider returning also.<\/p>\n

However like his friend Satoshi<\/a>, Hearn has now\u2026 moved on to other things.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most common question I\u2019m asked is whether I\u2019d come back and work on Bitcoin again. The obvious followup question is \u2013 come back and work on what?\u201d Hearn wrote in his introduction to a Reddit ask-me-anything (AMA) session<\/a> earlier today.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to see some of the ideas I\u2019d have been exploring if things had worked out differently, go read\u00a0the Corda tech white paper<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

BCH Not Radical Enough<\/p>\n

Hearn said Bitcoin Cash was \u201cnowhere near radical enough\u201d, and questioned its continued use of proof-of-work mining and old-fashioned Script commands. BCH \u201cstrongly resembles the Bitcoin community of 2014. This is not good,\u201d he said, hinting it should be way past that stage by now.<\/p>\n

Corda is a network similar in ideals to Bitcoin, but is capable of transferring all manner of data structures and digital assets rather than just currency, as well as record the changing state of those structures over time \u2014 e.g: contracts, loans, orders. Hearn claimed it offers better privacy features, improved scalability, and can accommodate extra layers and decentralized applications more easily via its \u201cflow framework\u201d of communicating with the main transaction chain.<\/p>\n

Many questions on the AMA concerned Bitcoin Cash and the scaling debate, which Hearn was happy to accommodate. Bitcoin needs a better governance model to make key decisions, and hard-forking shouldn\u2019t be used as a mechanism to make those decisions, he said.<\/p>\n

While a planned hard fork for BCH next month isn\u2019t likely to be controversial, there\u2019s bound to be a split in opinions at some point in the future \u2014 and dissenting groups may be subject to all manner of attacks to enforce a point of view.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlockstream successfully took over Bitcoin Core and expelled anyone who opposed them,\u201d he said, with Bitcoin XT nodes subject to regular DDoS attacks and supporters censored in online forums.<\/p>\n

Very Different Ideas for Decentralized Assets Mike Hearn<\/p>\n

Hearn\u2019s declaration of commitment to Corda, and the departure from mere cryptocurrency it represents, may dash the hopes of some BCH fans who wanted to see former developers reunite<\/a> for the cause.<\/p>\n

Corda\u2019s purpose and functionality is radically different to Bitcoin \u2014 with no POW,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mike Hearn, a developer whose early work in Bitcoin was instrumental in driving adoption for less technical users, has said he doesn\u2019t intend to return […]<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":812,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-more-crypto-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018I Don\u2019t Plan on Returning to Bitcoin\u2019 Says Early Developer Mike Hearn - InsideBitcoins.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An early Bitcoin developer who worked on adoption for less technical users, Mike Hearn, said he doesn\u2019t intend to return to the project.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119929\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018I Don\u2019t Plan on Returning to Bitcoin\u2019 Says Early Developer Mike Hearn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An early Bitcoin developer who worked on adoption for less technical users, Mike Hearn, said he doesn\u2019t intend to return to the project.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"InsideBitcoins.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-05T15:11:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-09T15:20:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jon Southurst\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jon Southurst\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119929#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119929\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jon Southurst\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d36f6d0bf23243a039c753fdb0601278\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018I Don\u2019t Plan on Returning to Bitcoin\u2019 Says Early Developer Mike Hearn\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-05T15:11:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-09T15:20:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119929\"},\"wordCount\":627,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"More Crypto News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2018\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119929#primaryimage\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119929\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119929\",\"name\":\"\u2018I Don\u2019t Plan on Returning to Bitcoin\u2019 Says Early Developer Mike Hearn - 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