LIBBITCOIN IS BITCOIN
FOR DEVELOPERS, DESIGNERS, BUILDERS, EDUCATORS, INTEGRATORS, USERS

MISSION: PROMOTING BITCOIN AND PRO-ACTIVELY AVOIDING THE "OPENSSL PROBLEM"

At the current pace, Bitcoin Core will face the "OpenSSL Problem". The "OpenSSL problem" is described simply as a lack of funding on the core library that is used by thousands of businesses across many different industries that collectively amass billions of dollars. OpenSSL is the cornerstone of the modern web's security, yet very little is contributed back to the project by those that benefit from it tremendously. The OpenSSL team consists of "two full-time employees (fellows) and the remainder are volunteers. The project has a budget of less than one million USD per year and relies primarily on donations."

As it stands today, Bitcoin Core is the underlying backend to many businesses amassing funds such as exchanges, mining pools, API providers, etc. Similar to the OpenSSL code base, it requires expert understanding and changes very slowly. Alternative OpenSSL implementations such as LibreSSL were spawned retro-actively in the wake of Heartbleed, a full on disaster in the community of the security conscious and vulnerable businesses. Alternative implementations help to simplify the code to avoid repeat situations.

The Libbitcoin Institute aims to promote Bitcoin and reduce the vulnerable reliance of the entire Bitcoin ecosystem on a single code base. Since Libbitcoin is more readable and maintainable, a lot of the mystery is taken out of the code, which enables more eyes to review it and helps to avoid potential impending disasters.

SEEKING DECENTRALIZATION

A diverse Bitcoin development community is essential to system security. The Bitcoin Core development team has prioritized stability over developer utility, however this approach is not without risk.

Libbitcoin's independent development helps provide developers with a toolkit for broader application development and an alternative to the convuluted codebase of the reference project, which hinders non-expert understanding of the protocol.

Libbitcoin is Bitcoin and is not to be confused with other brands such as Bitcoin Cash or Bitcoin SV. Our code base implements the Bitcoin protocol by default, while other teams may extend that functionality to support forks via user configuration. Contributors have already used the Libbitcoin code base to implement Litecoin and Feathercoin, for example.

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