Bitmain's Co-CEO Micree Zhan: Why He Prefers Bitcoin Unlimited Over SegWit
Micree Zhan, co-leader of the Bitcoin mining giant Bitmain and an electronics engineer by trade, holds significant influence in the blockchain industry. While his co-CEO, Jihan Wu, may be more prominent, Zhan's technical expertise and opinions on Bitcoin protocol updates provide valuable insights. Recently, Zhan shared his perspectives on two key scalability solutions for Bitcoin: Segregated Witness (SegWit) and Bitcoin Unlimited (BU). These proposals aim to tackle Bitcoin's challenge of limited block size, a critical issue as transaction demands grow.
Zhan revealed his journey into the cryptocurrency world, crediting Jihan Wu for introducing him to Bitcoin in 2013. With a professional background in integrated circuit design, Zhan quickly aligned his skills with the promise of Bitcoin. Today, his technical role at Bitmain focuses on creating and improving blockchain-optimized hardware to secure Bitcoin's mining network.
The core debate revolves around scalability solutions to address Bitcoin's 1MB block size limit. Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) proposes an "emergent consensus" approach, where the network dynamically adjusts block size based on collective miner decisions. For Zhan, this framework aligns with miners' economic incentives and simplifies technical adjustments compared to SegWit. “BU provides another implementation of Bitcoin protocols, strengthening the network’s diversity,” Zhan stated.
In contrast, SegWit fixes the malleability bug while offering a partial increase in transaction capacity. However, Zhan remains cautious about its complexity and rollout readiness, suggesting that miners and the broader ecosystem need more time to evaluate and adopt SegWit safely. “Segregated Witness is a smart technological solution,” Zhan noted, “but challenges in implementation and its perceived lack of simplicity hinder its acceptance for now.”
Technical complexities aside, Zhan emphasizes the importance of decentralizing dependency on specific coding teams. He believes that alternative protocol implementations, like Bitcoin Unlimited, make the blockchain more resilient. Lasting scalability depends on letting the ecosystem diversify and tolerate bugs in isolated systems rather than affecting the entire network. Using an example, he pointed to a prior bug found in Bitcoin Unlimited’s coding and praised the developers' timely fixes.
Zhan's outlook extends to miners' roles in Bitcoin's governance. He rejects imposing moral burdens on them, arguing that their primary concern lies in financial incentives and maintaining network stability through competitive mining. Echoing early Bitcoin principles, he reiterated Satoshi Nakamoto's view that miners focus on economics, investing heavily in infrastructure for rewards. “Ultimately, miners will select solutions that promote financial efficiency and scalability,” he concluded.
As Bitmain continues to enhance its Bitcoin mining solutions, Zhan remains optimistic about the future of cryptocurrency. He believes that a robust, diverse blockchain network leads to mutual benefits for miners, users, developers, and exchanges alike. Whether through BU, SegWit, or future technologies, Zhan underscores Bitmain's commitment to advancing Bitcoin's health and adoption worldwide.
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