BUIP012: Vote Trevin Hofmann for President
Proposer: Trevin Hofmann
Submitted: 2016-01-13
Status: closed

About Me

Hello! I am a twenty-year-old software engineering student at the
Milwaukee School of Engineering. Software engineering is much more than
a career choice for me. I am passionate about open source software,
applied cryptography, and Bitcoin. For more information regarding my
short experience, please see my résumé at
https://trevinhofmann.com/resume.pdf.

Bitcoin

I first discovered Bitcoin in early 2013 while news circulated of
capital controls in Cyprus. From that point on, I have been diving into
Bitcoin with excitement. After the summer of 2013, I moved to Milwaukee
for my freshman year of college. During the first quarter, I was
fortunate enough to begin working remotely with a young European Bitcoin
company. From this opportunity, I learned more about the inner workings
of Bitcoin while working on a mining pool, mobile multisignature wallet,
and an escrow-based marketplace. Along with other hobby projects, I
created an open source block chain explorer called MyChain. Although it
was not the most beautifully designed, I was proud of its relatively
efficient database indexing.

Bitcoin is the most fascinating application of cryptography that I have
found so far. I am beyond optimistic about its ability to serve as a
nearly perfect money for the modern economy.

Why Bitcoin Unlimited?

Bitcoin may be about to demonstrate its antifragility once again.
Although the downfall of Mt. Gox was a large temporary setback for
Bitcoin, the subsequent diversification of exchanges led to a much
healthier ecosystem. Similarly, I think that Bitcoin benefits as users
and miners diversify their full node implementations.

In my opinion, Bitcoin Unlimited is currently the most intriguing
proposal related to the block size limit. It emphasizes removing
consensus decisions from the developers and giving that power to the
users themselves. I would like to contribute to this experiment,
although I do not pledge any sort of allegiance to it. If a better
proposal appears, I am willing to support it.

My Plans as President

I am not optimistic about the organizational structure defined in the
Articles of Federation. They seem to impose an unnecessary amount of
bureaucracy that could slow development and provide little benefit. I
believe that development of Bitcoin Unlimited can be led by a set of
guiding principles similar to those found in the first Article. It is
difficult to imagine a proposal that cannot be settled by the guiding
principles of Bitcoin Unlimited. When a feature outside of the consensus
model is proposed, we should accept any sane contributions that give the
users a choice to enable such a feature. When a change to the consensus
model is proposed, we should design a similar mechanism to the block
size limit proposal in order to enable users to reach an emergent
consensus of their own. In the rare situation that a debate is unable
resolve in a way that satisfies all Bitcoin Unlimited users and
developers, then the minority view can and should fork the project into
their own. Forks of the code should be encouraged. Losers of a vote
should not be told that they must concede their views.

Despite my pessimism, I am interested in giving this structure a fair
chance. As President, I would ambitiously fulfill the duties outlined in
the Articles. I would promote an active discussion and voting process
for BUIPs. As a software engineer comfortable with both the inner
workings of Bitcoin and the development and management of websites and
forums, I would be able to work directly with both the Secretary and
Developer to move Bitcoin Unlimited forward.

In the event that my pessimism regarding the organization structure
defined in the Articles of Federation becomes apparently warranted, I
would do my best to transition development into a more suitable model.
After significant community engagement and given the required approval
of a majority above 66% with at least 75% of members voting, I would
make the necessary amendments to the Articles to move into a less
bureaucratic framework. I would be fully willing to give up any
Presidential powers in order to facilitate such a transition.

Conclusion

Thank you very much for reading and considering this submission. Please
feel free to engage me with questions and comments.