Drivechains (BIP-300/301)
Sidechains whose two-way peg is secured by miners (BIP-300) with blind merged mining (BIP-301).
Vlad on S17 E37: the difference from other L2s is that all transaction fees go to miners. Peter Todd's 2023 analysis is the standard critique and is linked here too.[12][5]
Definition
Drivechains are a design for Bitcoin sidechains specified in two proposals: BIP-300, hashrate escrows for the peg, and BIP-301, blind merged mining[1][2]. Project documentation is at drivechain.info[3].
Status
Neither BIP has activated on Bitcoin. Paul Sztorc's eCash (ECX) fork was built to activate them natively[4]. Peter Todd published a detailed critical analysis in 2023[5].
Heard on Bitcoin Takeover
On S17 E21 (April 2026), Paul Sztorc said of his eCash fork: “even when we activate the drivechains, I'm going to use the same Core Untouched Soft Fork, so that won't even be in the changes for the L1.”[6]
Earlier drivechain episodes with Sztorc, listed in the show's feed: S9 E4, ‘Paul Sztorc on the Philosophy of BIP 300 & Prediction Markets’ (July 2021)[7]; S14 E10, ‘Paul Sztorc on Drivechains & Attacking Bitcoin’ (August 2023)[8]; S14 E13, ‘Paul Sztorc Reacts to Drivechains Reactions’ (September 2023)[9]; S15 E16, ‘Paul Sztorc Talks Bitcoin Scaling, But Can't Say Drivechains’ (January 2024)[10]; S15 E68, ‘Paul Sztorc on Activating Drivechains via CUSF (Core Untouched Soft Fork)’ (December 2024)[11].
References
- primaryBIP-300 (Hashrate Escrows) [archived]
- primaryBIP-301 (Blind Merged Mining) [archived]
- primarydrivechain.info [archived]
- btkeCash (ECX): Paul Sztorc Forks Bitcoin to Prove a Point (BTCTKVR: Forks!) [archived]
- secondaryPeter Todd, “Drivechains: A Detailed Analysis” (2023) [archived]
- episodeS17 E21: Paul Sztorc on activating drivechains on eCash▶ listen at 3:10timestamp transcript-derived, pending a listen [archived]
- episodeS9 E4: Paul Sztorc on the Philosophy of BIP 300 & Prediction Markets [archived]
- episodeS14 E10: Paul Sztorc on Drivechains & Attacking Bitcoin [archived]
- episodeS14 E13: Paul Sztorc Reacts to Drivechains Reactions [archived]
- episodeS15 E16: Paul Sztorc Talks Bitcoin Scaling, But Can't Say Drivechains [archived]
- episodeS15 E68: Paul Sztorc on Activating Drivechains via CUSF (Core Untouched Soft Fork) [archived]
- episodeS17 E37: Vlad on why he backs the drivechain fork (solo outro)▶ listen at 23:54timestamp transcript-derived, pending a listen [archived]