Drivechains enable Bitcoin to scale to 8 billion users - and beyond
Explore how Drivechain-based systems compare with other approaches to scaling, privacy, and mining.
| Metric | BTC Cutting Edge (Lightning) | Our Better Strategy (Thunder) |
|---|---|---|
| Onboarding | Cannot possibly onboard 8 billion people, ever. Fewer than 80 million people can use simultaneously [1]. | Could onboard 8 billion people over the next five years [1]. |
| Liquidity | Managing inbound liquidity is expensive, counter-intuitive, and bad UX. | No such concept – always infinite liquidity. |
| Routes Failing | Has a failure rate of 5-25 % [3]. | Failure rate is 0 %. |
| Payment Size | Larger payments ($882+, 1 M sats) have higher fee, higher failure rate, longer txn time [3]. | Larger payments treated just the same as smaller payments. |
| L1 Bytes | HTLCs consume too many bytes (L1 feerate dust effect), making them useless in practice [1]. | HTLCs not needed. |
| Fee-Pass Through | 0 % (which will kill the security model, long term) [4]. | 100 % (guaranteeing happy coexistence between drivechains and miners). |
| 51 % Attack | Miners can steal from individual LN channels by censoring justice txns [5]. | Stealing would take 3-6 months, be publicly transparent, and result in miners losing money. |
A visual introduction to deposits, withdrawals, sidechain choice, and miner participation.
Deposit instantly. Withdraw in three to six months.
Start with a short overview, then continue through the research and frequently asked questions below.
Talks, debates, interviews, presentations, and recorded discussions spanning the development of Drivechain and related ideas.
A searchable collection covering BIP300/301, eCash, Drivechain, and the broader body of work around Paul Sztorc—with long-form media and transcripts in one place.
Open the archiveTalks, interviews, debates, and presentations
BIP300/301, eCash, and Drivechain
Searchable records and full transcripts
The classic L2L Spaces series brought together builders and researchers for long-form conversations about Bitcoin, Drivechain, and Layer 2 design.
Direct answers to the most common questions about Drivechain and Bitcoin sidechains.
Drivechain is a soft fork upgrade for Bitcoin that enables new features and promotes 'build on Bitcoin'. Drivechain accomplishes that by introducing a superior type of sidechain for Bitcoin. Currently, all Bitcoin sidechains are federated. The sidechains introduced via Drivechain are, in the words of Adam Back, 'more peer-to-peer'. The new sidechains will allow users to experiment with new features and implement alternative rules for blockchains. Importantly, Drivechain is designed to enable more features to exist for Bitcoiners without necessarily introducing more monetary supply. To parrot Dr. Back again, we can say that Drivechain is designed to maximize innovation and minimize seigniorage.
With Drivechain, sidechains run parallel to Bitcoin's mainchain without a 15-party federated multisig. Instead, the massive dynamic multitude of Bitcoin miners play a vital role in the security model of the sidechains. The sidechains have their own consensus rules, allowing them to support new features. Bitcoin can be transferred between the mainchain and sidechains, enabling users to access a wide variety of blockchain applications without the need to buy an altcoin.
Drivechain offers several benefits, including:
Drivechain utilizes a two-way peg system called hashrate escrow to securely move value between Bitcoin's mainchain and sidechains. As with Bitcoin, economic self-interest drives the successful operation of this mechanism.
To transfer bitcoin to a sidechain, a special transaction is used (a 'peg in' transaction). This transaction locks your Bitcoin on the mainchain and simultaneously creates an equivalent amount of tokens on the desired sidechain. Once the transaction is confirmed, you can transact on the sidechain as you wish.
To transfer coins from a sidechain back to the main Bitcoin mainchain, you'll need to use a 'peg out' transaction. This transaction burns the sidechain tokens and unlocks an equal amount of bitcoin on the mainchain. After the transaction is confirmed, your bitcoin will be available for use on the mainchain.
The sidechains can support a wide variety of use cases, including:
