Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Coinbase , noted in a Yahoo video interview that while the present period is a great time for bitcoin, controversy also surrounds bitcoin and blockchain technology.
Asked by Yahoo finance reporter Dan Roberts about the interest in blockchain technology that is overshadowing bitcoin, Ehrsam compared the debate to the dawn of the Internet when closed corporate Intranets were common. Fred Ehrsam The people using the corporate Intranets said they wanted the efficiency gains the Internet provided without any of the “wild west scary stuff.” Twenty years later, we know that “the open Internet is where all the interesting things happen,” such as the open network environment, a shared protocol that anyone can build on, Ehrsam said. Blockchain Without Bitcoin?
“I’m a huge proponent of the open network… I think the whole network of blockchain without bitcoin will amount to very little in comparison with the open network,” he said.
Ehrsam is one of several bitcoin observers to question those who say they want the benefits of blockchain technology but want to shun bitcoin. Paul Chou, CEO of LedgerX and the bitcoin advisor to the U.S. Commodities and Future Trading Commission (CFTC), noted in February that companies trying to use the blockchain without bitcoin are seriously misguided, and so far the concept is unproven, CCN reported.
Concerning the block size debate, Roberts asked Ehrsam if the block size debate would “tear bitcoin apart,” as some have said.
One group wants the blocks to remain small to keep bitcoin as decentralized as possible, while another group thinks the future requires change. Some want to increase the block size as bitcoin transactional limits are reached. Ehrsam said he is in the latter group. Expand The Block Size
“The reality is we can actually have a small increase in the block size […]
