One of the hot topics at the recently held BSV Global Blockchain Convention in Dubai is IPv6, and how a massively scaling blockchain technology fits into the next era of the internet. For Bitcoin creator Dr. Craig Wright, IPv6 allows Bitcoin to return to its original peer-to-peer nature—by allowing people to have direct connectivity.
“Getting back to IPv6, which was originally in Bitcoin 2009, allows us to start building the proper model where rather than this, ‘I send a transaction to the network and look for it,’ [it’s] ‘I communicate with the person,” Dr. Wright tells CoinGeek Backstage. “I know that’s a really weird idea for people in the crypto space, like actually deal with people. But that’s what P2P is meant to be.”
In his keynote presentation, the nChain chief scientist explained how the IPv6 protocol will work with the BSV blockchain to enable people to talk to each other and by allowing machines to talk to other machines. IPv6 will dramatically boost the number of unique IP addresses, paving the way for further growth in areas like the Internet of Things. In other words, IPV6 scales just as Bitcoin—as detailed in the 2008 white paper—“always scaled.”
So where does the “peer to peer” part come in? Dr. Wright explains that Bitcoin’s key aspect is “IP to IP,” in which two “peers” conduct a negotiation and come to an agreement without the pesky middlemen. IPv6 enables direct connectivity, and with the expanded number of addresses it can support, everyone can have traceable pseudonyms that link to IP addresses to prove their identities.
“I know I should realize that the average Silicon Valley sort of IT nerd is like me and probably wants to stay at home and not meet people. But I’m trying to create a system where people actually interact even if it’s online and interact directly. So direct communication… not forming a big pool of there’ll be something there to search for later but actually talk to people and communicate with contracting where you actually negotiate,” Dr. Wright tells CoinGeek’s Jon Southurst. “Hopefully we’ll get that with normal people so that they understand that this is a world where we want actual communication, actual talking, actual involvement.”
Watch: Dr. Craig Wright’s keynote presentation at BSV Global Blockchain Convention, A Better Internet with IPv6 and BSV Blockchain
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