Bitcoin Foundation co-chairs ben_vulpes and mod6 today posted signed statements affirming that the Bitcoin blockchain as an immutable cryptographic record and the foundation's commitment to continue maintaining a reference Bitcoin client. They make a specify point of emphasizing that actual Bitcoin clients can verify the entire blockchain including transaction signatures during initial sync. The emphasis on verifying transaction signatures in the blockchain comes as a few troublemakers have proposed a "soft" fork which would replace transaction signatures in blocks with links to the signatures which would be held in a separate data structure off of the blockchain. The controversial fork proposal received a swift condemnation from MPEx proprietor Mircea Popescu. While Popescu's condemnation received some degree of social media attention it has so far been ignored by most news outlets in favor of Hoaxtoshi.
The complete statements with GPG signatures are available below:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA512 Maintaining the immutable, inviolable and cryptographically auditable nature of the blockchain is now and will remain forever the core mission of the Bitcoin Foundation. Any discussion whatsoever on any other topic may be had only for as long as and only inasmuch as the foregoing is indiscussable. Any time it is brought into discussion, it behooves us to point out that any implementation that does not validate the entire blockchain during initial sync, including transaction signatures, may not be considered a Bitcoin client. The Foundation will continue to maintain and provide access to an actual Bitcoin client, free from faux innovations intended to cripple its future. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.10 (FreeBSD) iQIcBAEBCgAGBQJWbP22AAoJEHIXBai3Hq2vTBsQAJIv8bnScf9h1FkrwYFq9Qrd nPTQ215Mk0aokvdY2lJh26QKQMcvgtNYZQqbTfxGyILPPwUpDMj/6K68H08uU8qg dS9KpNSIGRounLuE4kBTLtVHORl6ie8NylDFHDcUt0YUxKkrvSqlq0UaiFHLiglQ jt6Gudf/Mpj2iPOOLOEi7DllQ/NGGXqI4w3ZGOF7N4MkFGS4yfbkbVa9rmpXAWWk 8krpVDnD5kbZeatVlzxiU98hY7Mmp2/JSQGecBoVhnCxKqhtvrrGMicPBYTvAPJr C3TtJ1dAHM5Gdq+BlC6Uo1ugCAdBJ6PzStMw8k5EmwM3t97HOh1aJp/5xhqg7Koq sLZs8d6cOA5cUmNbzPT3WTZ9+7XIJUaPn7eK2S4aUUSSNTTMCW9g1TYWD+qZGx9Z eXuM73OWBYMQJVlQIlX/dSwbMfTwQupgPVxaPoYABMUdD/Y91m+pr34zDo98GsU4 LbM90+3XtxwfelWESmHj1EuqkRJw76Pc8nB6LNFhd8E5InD3rKftOD8s7ZzDANpH nhuw/k7SGDAelU+cBgEM4OO8WitmLosmBBLFJNuwEeaBALuRrUnxXEKivI0QVTLR dmpKh5H/T2HJ5C9taiRcuik3KE6sS6VzUy3pnm5M17sCQ5WmCFTrYRn/ayIMBYOv lQYClXgtfYJbyceAx5Ax =BZSv -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA512 Maintaining the immutable, inviolable and cryptographically auditable nature of the blockchain is now and will remain forever the core mission of the Bitcoin Foundation. Any discussion whatsoever on any other topic may be had only for as long as and only inasmuch as the foregoing is indiscussable. Any time it is brought into discussion, it behooves us to point out that any implementation that does not validate the entire blockchain during initial sync, including transaction signatures, may not be considered a Bitcoin client. The Foundation will continue to maintain and provide access to an actual Bitcoin client, free from faux innovations intended to cripple its future. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iQIcBAEBCgAGBQJWbLpxAAoJEPAbzAMu8lJHpbgQAJDEJhkFOZs0vaMz6eCxb3xa ckrnr6B5laLdhj3cL7GfAdwdy8IxgUfZHUllUqrx/zEIh9Ss+C0GhkkBkvFMjUld aOPfAaJDawnIOLG1y5Pd4X4XE+E0JdY08b67dSN3CMIQ3rvewncpcj71wz3gwkBD ikzG1/0V0X8KWADW7fSVq0hoLKxKLZ00Ty5sbERYNAbNVxtSgeZ9RZNFfKsyO6Mm cQNbGR50aZzopvfwzsMDILkTORO8kbrmvxgI8iV90W+y6xC9YcCQLDl54BY4gzXb h9R9/a75eiHTwYGSSY+Ror5eK/0ZCmiaePtJpyXnDA36rpIhcZttedHnB14DRuye Kzd79GkuAh3k95hGMBTGbCz6sK7e1NQyVJdGXdpyMNYd8N4cJzmXN/TJW7eKKFhl 3ZUbKg1azVD6Hw1Evnm9JPU8vEcQLlMNslqqs3S80Y+HXwBbuabZFGKhoNuscGPc RaB8QY/4FGp8JgfKnDxZMb1t65Z4dmuFrCxNxg6TAVVpSVBFM9x/fyH146zncxVp 5IAf9z/yb3Zo7f1fxFUS5Jwd69MbQb7+vnhrWFYf8W9VHNVni9u6VKkogSNzVV0L VfoCuEa151oO7xUoDsxytJJWfY/rVqCzXRnRNxOj2IRj93/B2DduDYsynADgHCUW 69Jbo++cT6+duPtToQ7a =zlRU -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----