As per a post made by podcaster Marty Bent, it is the first time, Bitcoin (BTC) mainnet has been used to host discreet log contract (DLC), a development he refers as “a very important moment in Bitcoin history.”
The smart contract is linked to political developments and forthcoming events this year. Specifically, Nicolas Dorier, the developer of BTCPay who called BitPay outdated, has made a bet utilizing DLC about the likely winner (Donald Trump or Joe Biden) of the US Presidential election to be conducted in November.
Dorier’s DLC deal, posted on Github, is with Chris Steward, founder of Suredbits, and Outcome Observer functioning as a third-party oracle.
Stewart said “When the election is finalized, the Outcome Observer will broadcast a signature that either I or Nicolas can use to settle the bet. If Trump wins, Nicolas will receive 1 BTC. If Biden wins, I will receive 1 BTC.”
The Bitcoin engineer apparently has all eventualities covered, including unconditional refunds to both of them in case a third-party candidate wins, regardless whether the oracle exists or not.
“We have signed refunded transactions that can be executed in March of 2021 that will give us our collateral back.”
The awesome thing is that if you trust Outcome Observer (which we both trust), you can also make a bet with somebody else, without for the oracle to know about it! 🙂
— Nicolas Dorier (@NicolasDorier) September 8, 2020
DLCs facilitate two or more parties to enter into a smart contract powered betting regarding a forthcoming event. So far, such smart contract hosting facility was available on Ethereum and EOS platforms as Bitcoin network prioritized security than technical ability. However, firms such as Suredbits were working to include smart contract technology to Bitcoin blockchain.
Stewart said
“I don’t think [Bitcoiners] need to concede that territory to Ethereum. There are plenty of powerful primitives in Bitcoin that allow you to do advanced applications with Bitcoin.”
Expressing optimism about the development, Bent termed the smart contract based bet as a huge moment in the Bitcoin saga.
The podcaster said “DLCs may be the least appreciated ‘killer application’ of Bitcoin out there right now. It will be very interesting to see the types of applications that begin to proliferate as more people come around to this type of smart contract.”
In an obvious reprimanding of those who censure Bitcoin’s slow rate of technical advancement, Bent stated that the approach has been beneficial:
Slowly but surely, Bitcoin’s keep it simple stupid/slow and steady development approach is paying off in big ways.