Ledger\'s Charles Guillemet Shares Transformative Journey from Bitcoin Skeptic to Deep Appreciation of Its Potential

In a recent interview with CryptoSlate's Akiba, Ledger's Chief Technology Officer, Charles Guillemet, shared his transformative journey from

Ledger’s Chief Technology Officer, Charles Guillemet, recently sat down with Akiba, a reporter at CryptoSlate, to discuss Bitcoin’s potential and use cases. Initially skeptical when he first encountered Bitcoin in 2011, Guillemet was impressed by the technological sophistication of decentralized consensus and cryptography but doubted its practical adoption.

“My friend was mining it and he was talking about Bitcoin every day… I told him like, ‘your thing is really amazing from a technical standpoint, but what’s the use case? There was absolutely no chance that anyone will add up Bitcoin in the future." - Guillemet

However, around 2017, as Bitcoin began gaining more mainstream attention and adoption, Guillemet started to revisit his stance. He began exploring the economic and permissionless aspects of Bitcoin, leading to a deeper understanding of its potential as a form of money not controlled by any central authority. This exploration also broadened his awareness of how traditional fiat systems operate, ultimately shifting his view to appreciate Bitcoin’s value proposition of ownership and financial sovereignty.

When Akiba asked to consider the potential for Bitcoin to serve broader purposes, such as a time-stamping and event-sequencing mechanism, Guillemet acknowledged the concept of using Bitcoin’s blockchain for verifying digital events and recognized the current limitations.

“In its current form, it’s not possible because the block space is too small, too scarce, and Bitcoin doesn’t scale enough.” - Guillemet

He suggested that scaling solutions could enable Bitcoin to support various uses, including anchoring data and execution states from other systems. Guillemet proposed creating a robust Layer 2 solution for Bitcoin, which could allow for more efficient and scalable transaction processing while leveraging the security of the Bitcoin blockchain.

“We could imagine that in the future, people will be able to use Bitcoin to timestamp things, to anchor data, to anchor execution states from other systems, and to attest to the fact that something happened at a given point in time. Bitcoin is uniquely suited for this because it provides a very strong chain of evidence, and it’s very difficult to manipulate or forge entries in the Bitcoin blockchain.” - Guillemet

However, he also noted that simply anchoring data (hashing) onto the Bitcoin blockchain is insufficient for guaranteeing the validity of the data without additional context and execution proofs. Guillemet believed that advancements like OP_CAT or other innovative approaches could potentially enhance Bitcoin’s functionality, allowing it to support a broader array of applications without compromising its core principles.

“We need to be able to attest to the fact that some code was executed in a given state, and that the output of that code execution was hashed onto the Bitcoin blockchain. Without that, you can’t really prove anything. All you can do is prove that some data existed at a given point in time, but you can’t prove that anything interesting happened to that data. Advancing Bitcoin’s capabilities in this way would open up a whole new realm of possibilities for the protocol.” - Guillemet

He specifically advocated for a dedicated new OP code designed to allow ZK proofs to be validated on-chain, enabling enhanced layer-2 Bitcoin solutions. Being able to use ZK proofs with layer-2s would reduce the trust needed in off-chain processing and scale the potential for Bitcoin to act as a data settlement layer beyond finance without needing to increase blockspace.

“I think we need to have a dedicated new OP code that allows us to validate ZK proofs on-chain. This would enable enhanced layer-2 Bitcoin solutions. For example, being able to use ZK proofs with layer-2s would reduce the trust needed in off-chain processing and scale the potential for Bitcoin to act as a data settlement layer beyond finance without needing to increase blockspace.” - Guillemet

Guillemet’s reflections on Bitcoin and blockchain technology highlight a journey from initial skepticism to a nuanced appreciation of Bitcoin’s potential. He envisions a future where Bitcoin’s capabilities extend beyond digital currency, provided that scalability and execution challenges are addressed through innovative solutions. This perspective highlights blockchain technology’s ongoing evolution and expanding possibilities in various domains.

News source：https://www.kdj.com/cryptocurrencies-news/articles/ledger-charles-guillemet-shares-transformative-journey-bitcoin-skeptic-deep-appreciation-potential.html

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