FAQ for the general audience

What is the function of the BSV Association (BSVA)?

The BSV Association (BSVA) serves as the principal steward of the BSV network, entrusted with multiple critical functions. Here’s an overview of its key functions:

• Stewardship: The BSVA’s primary function is to steward the BSV network. This involves communicating essential information and updates to miners and other network participants, primarily through the Alert System. This system is crucial for disseminating important security updates, alerts, and guidance to maintain the network's integrity and efficiency.

• Educational Support and Software Development: The BSVA also focuses on providing educational resources and supporting software development initiatives. This function is vital in equipping the BSV community with the necessary knowledge and tools to optimise network participation and foster technological innovation within the blockchain space.

• Enforcement of Network Access Rules (NAR): As a party to the NAR, the BSVA has well-defined duties and obligations towards network miners and nodes, as set out in NAR. The association ensures that these rules are adhered to, and it can be held accountable for any breaches or overreaching actions. This enforcement is key to maintaining a fair, secure, and orderly network.

• Compliance with Legal Directives: A significant part of the BSVA’s role involves enforcing legal directives, particularly regarding the freezing or reassignment of unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs). Utilising the Alert System, the BSVA facilitates network compliance with relevant court orders, thereby aligning the BSV network with relevant legal standards and regulatory requirements.

In essence, the BSVA's role is to ensure that the BSV network operates within a secure, legal, and efficient framework, balancing the needs of network participants with the overarching goal of maintaining a stable and trustworthy blockchain environment.

What are the Network Access Rules, and how do they impact the BSV blockchain?

The Network Access Rules (NAR) on the BSV blockchain is a multilateral contract between and among the BSVA (the steward of the network) and the nodes. The NAR overseen by the BSVA, are a set of guidelines that dictate how participants operate honestly within the network. The network rules are built off the six steps to run the network covered in section 5 of the Bitcoin White Paper. Adhering to these six steps and the NAR that have been built upon them will be crucial for maintaining a secure and orderly system, thereby impacting network reliability and user trust in the BSV blockchain.

How does the Alert System work, and what is its role in BSV blockchain security?

The Alert System serves as a critical security feature within the BSV blockchain, playing an important role in maintaining blockchain security and ensuring the network's robust operation. It operates by allowing the BSVA to issue warnings, directives, and important network updates when necessary to address various situations.

The Alert System's primary function is to provide technical means for remedying breaches of the NAR by nodes. It achieves this by re-introducing the Alert Key Mechanism to the BSV network. In essence, the BSVA utilises this mechanism to send directives and messages to all network nodes, requesting them to take specific actions as outlined in the NAR. These NAR represent the agreed-upon terms and conditions that nodes have accepted when joining the BSV blockchain and engaging in relevant activities (including network activities).

The messages sent through the Alert System can take various forms. Some messages are purely informative, providing updates on upcoming software changes or other important developments. Others are issued as directives in predefined situations, as explicitly defined in the NAR. These situations may include responding to threats such as double-spend attacks on the BSV network.

Additionally, the Alert System facilitates actions related to the freezing, releasing, and confiscating of unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs). These actions are enabled to help ensure compliance with court orders and legal requirements, further enhancing the BSV network's security and integrity.

What is the concept of freezing and unfreezing assets on a blockchain and why is it necessary?

Freezing assets on a blockchain involves temporarily disabling transactions for specific digital assets to comply with legal directives. Unfreezing assets restores their transaction capabilities. This mechanism is a necessary part of the enforcement processes that have been adopted to effect compliance with legal directives.

What distinguishes the BSV blockchain's approach to governance from other blockchain networks?

The BSV blockchain, under the stewardship of the BSVA, adopts a structured approach to governance with clearly defined rules and processes.

As stewards of the Bitcoin Protocol, the BSVA undertakes responsibility to act in the best interest of the BSV network, setting the core design of the Bitcoin Protocol in stone such that users can build upon the network with confidence. In addition to aiding network and protocol stability, the BSVA are also the issuers of the NAR which create an enforceable multilateral agreement that miners commit to by performing their network activities. The NAR specify the conditions under directives can be disseminated through the Alert System, specifying steps which miners must take to stay compliant with the NAR.

This approach is in contrast with other blockchain developer groups that are less likely to assume a similar level of responsibility. Instead, we see fewer proactive steps towards accepting such responsibility and an absence of any strong interest in creating a fixed and clearly defined protocol.

Under the stewardship model, and the role of the BSVA and the NAR, a regulatory-compliant framework is created for BSV, supporting the enforceability and respect of applicable laws and regulations – a commitment sorely absent in blockchain to date.

A key aspect of BSV Blockchain is that the underlying protocol remains "set in stone", and is unalterable by the BSV Association or anyone else. The BSVA is committed to this stability, in stark contrast to other blockchain networks.

How do the Network Access Rules facilitate the growth and wider adoption of the BSV blockchain?

The development of the NAR is critical for the BSV blockchain's widespread adoption, particularly for real-world applications that require robust governance mechanisms such as rollback and asset recovery. These rules provide the necessary clarity and reliability that enterprises and large-scale users demand.

Are there any potential risks or challenges associated with the implementation of the Network Access Rules?

Implementing the NAR involves balancing the need for a secure and orderly public blockchain while ensuring the rules are fair and not overly restrictive. The most significant challenges are anticipated to be the complexity of multijurisdictional enforcement orders between states sanctioned by some and not by others.

How can individuals and businesses benefit from the enhanced security provided by the Alert System?

The enhanced security from the Alert System means individuals and businesses can operate on the BSV blockchain with increased confidence, knowing that there are measures in place to protect against fraud, unauthorised transactions, and other security threats.

What role does the community play in overseeing and influencing the Network Access Rules?

While the BSVA is responsible for the final structure of the NAR, community feedback, use cases, and insights are valuable and appreciated. They can help inform the BSVA of the BSV network’s practical needs and user experiences, contributing to the refinement of the current rules. The BSVA reserves its right to amend the NAR but with the intention not to change any of the fundamentals in the Bitcoin Protocol.

Disclaimer

The content of this document is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to modify or supersede the contractual rights or obligations of any party to the Network Access Rules. Parties are encouraged to carefully review the Network Access Rules to verify the accuracy of the information presented here. It is assumed that, where necessary, parties will seek guidance from their legal counsel and any other advisors they consider necessary.

Any statements here do not purport and should not be considered to be a guide to, advice on, or explanation of all relevant issues or considerations relating to the contractual relationship established by the NAR. The BSV Association assumes no responsibility for any use to which the BSV network is put by any miner or other third party.