Chinese Litecoin community’s PZ: something you don’t know about Global LTC Roundtable
The price of LTC (Litecoin) recently has been exploded by seven times due to the Global LTC Roundtable Resolution. Before that, we have no idea whether Segwit (Segregated Witness) can be activated or not. What makes Chinese miners change their minds and start signaling Segwit? Perhaps, we can find the answer from Mr. PZ, the secretary-general of Global LTC Roundtable and the Chinese blockchain evangelist. I’m so honored to interview him that I can know something behind the scenes.
Here is the interview:
Editor: Hi, PZ. Good to see you. It is my great honor to have a interview with you. And thank you so much for sparing a time to accept my interview.
PZ: This is also a good chance for all others to know litecoin better. Thank you, too.
Editor: When did you become a member of the LTC team? And why did you choose to publicize litecoin in China instead of other cryptocurrencies?
PZ: It was very early that I started to publicize LTC in China as a member of the litecoin team. And that I choose LTC is because I believe in Charlie Lee and Warren Togami. I believe that they will adhere to the philosophy of being just, fair and open, and do a good job in LTC developing to achieve the sustainable development of litecoin so as to repay our fans for their trust,.
Editor: We all know that the price of LTC had once dropped from RMB380 to 5RMB. During that depression period, why didn’t you give up LTC?
PZ: Because it is because of me that a great number of Chinese users get to know litecoin and started to be involved in the development of the litecoin ecosystem. The litecoin was at a very low price during a long period of time due to multiple factors. However, this made my belief even stronger in supporting Litecoin continually. At that time, I made up my mind not to give up on Litecoin, and I will do everything I can to get the price back into 380RMB. Only in this way can I be faced with those litecoin fans who trust me all the time. It was tough for me during that depression period. But I would be full of hope whenever I thought of those fans who never abandoned me.
Editor: How lucky and honorable we Litecoin fans are that we have such a great leader like you, especially compared to those altcoin fans who were abandoned by their team.
PZ: It is always the case that perseverance prevails, isn’t it? When the price of litecoin fell from RMB380 to 5RMB, our LTC fans made a epitaph for me.
Editor: Lol…
Editor: But somehow, now we live and our sky grows bright. The Segwit has been successfully activated. What do you think of it?
PZ: Segwit has been officially activated on LTC network. This is an epoch-making moment for us. However, it is universally acknowledged that the solution is originally intended to fix some transactions malleability vectors of Bitcoin. It’s a pity that Bitcoin network failed to take the lead in using this technology. Since LTC is nearly identical to Bitcoin at a technical level, so the tests of the Segwit tests can be completed very quickly with the help of shaolinfry.
Editor: Why did the miners take so long to formally deploy segwit activation after segwit codes released?
PZ: As we all know, the Litecoin miners were not ready to accept the update on litecoin in a long period of time after the Segwit tests on litecoin network finished. And what happened on Bitcoin also took place on LTC. In China, the main litecoin miners are Bitcoin miners, too. Chinese miners are concerned that the complexity of the Segwit codes that the developers adopted, would lead to the volatility of network. It’s noted that the stabilization of network is the most solid foundation of cryptocurrency, without which the cryptocurrency network is void of value. The miners want a much simpler upgrade strategy to ensure a safe, steady and worthy network. We can see that people resort to attacks, slander, and rancorous disputes from media outlets.
Editor: It’s said that there was a period of time that miners did not agree to segwit because of the fear of replaying the Hong Kong agreement drama.
PZ: Yes, it is a factor. In fact, the Bitcoin developers did have a good chance to work with miners, making progress together, setting an example of negotiation mechanism — Hong Kong Bitcoin Roundtable Meeting Resolution in Feb 21, 2016. According to the Hong Kong agreement, as long as Core had included the code for a block size increased to 2MB, all of the signing miners (70% of all Chinese miners) have already agreed to activate Segwit before the block size is increased. Unfortunately, shortly after the signing, the agreement was unilaterally terminated. All of the signing miners feeling confused, and finally this suspicion spreading into LTC. Therefore, the scenario you mentioned occurred. Even after some of foreign mining pools begin to signal for segwit, the overall mining support is still very low.
Editor: It’s said that Global LTC Roundtable is established by you, may I ask why you’d like to create such an organization?
PZ: Yes, I established this organization. Actually, before the establishment of the Global LTC Roundtable, I had already created the Chinese LTC community. So the meeting can be seen as an extension of the community. We met a lot of difficulties in the course of creation which boasts a very laborious process. China is so vast that we have to take a long way to find certain people or reach certain goals. Finally we succeed in holding it half a year later. This year is a very important year for LTC development. We have made a lot of new plans, one of which is segwit activation. In line with the team planning, some new features would take into effect based on the activation of the segwit. However, a variety of misunderstandings and disputes render the postponement of plan. In order to coordinate the interests of all parties, I began to negotiate with them in terms of the roadmap of LTC. When I launched this initiative, I received the support of Chinese heavyweights of the industry, including exchanges, chip providers, mining machine providers and big miners. Without their support, the roundtable can’t be established.
Editor: You just mentioned ‘coordinate the interests of all parties’, is that very difficult?
PZ: Yes, it is. The industry chain of LTC grows big, with lots of participants and much too different interest appeals. To be honest, if there is no such a rountable, LTC community may be at the threat of splitting. It is likely to go fork without same value and strong tie. So in order to maintain LTC network, we put forward an idea at the beginning — The members of this group have agreed to defer personal decisions on how to upgrade the protocol till the decisions agreed to by this body through community voting. The disputes and differences are fully discussed and demonstrated at the meeting. All members involved in the Roundtable agreed on this principle and then signed and sealed.
One thing I learned from the negotiation processes with all parties is that it is very difficult to meet the interest demand of each party. Different viewpoints, positions and interests would change the starting point of parties. However, only to coordinate the different interest can we develop LTC. And when you are trying to coordinate the differences, you need to look at the issue for the sake of others, trying not to hurt their benefits. Meanwhile, the conflict of interest is of a certain existence, and seeking common ground while reserving difference is not easy. Honest speaking, it’s quite difficult to persuade the CEOs of these companies gathering into one place, sitting here and starting to negotiate.
Editor: There are rumors that Bitmain and its stakeholders are trying to prevent the development of LTC, is that true?
PZ: Apparently not, it’s a slander aiming at Bitmain. I also often see that some media outlets or reporters spread false and misleading information about LTC. Although I cannot disclose the specific information of LTC Roundtable, I’m here to ensure you that every member of the group is stake holder, wishing LTC a better and healthier cryptocurrency. If LTC doesn’t go well, their vital interests would be put under the threat of infringement. They need to express their idea at the meeting so as to avoid benefit lost. If you invest billions in LTC, will you do something to hurt it. Of course not. So, it must be a libel against Bitmain.
Editor: You mean that, those heavyweights were present at each meeting in person?
PZ: Yes, some of them came from overseas to the meeting by plane, and flew away immediately after meeting, I was extremely grateful to Wang Chun for his support.
Editor: How many meetings you hold in total, and what’s the achievement?
PZ: I organized 3 meetings so far. The first was held on February 18, 2017 in Wuhan, China. The statutes and rules of procedure of the Roundtable were basically established at this meeting. The second meeting was held on March 11, 2017 in Shenzhen, China. On the meeting, a “Blockchain Technology (Lite) Global Council” resolution (the predecessor of the Roundtable Meeting) was reached, and the involved members signed and sealed, agreeing to jointly promote the development of LTC. The third meeting, which was the most famous one, was a marathon meeting on Wechat on April 21, 2017. The outcome of the meeting was the Global LTC Roundtable Resolution 2017.
Editor: Thank you for what you have done for LTC. Now, the LTC Segwit activation has been locked, do you have any plans for the future?
PZ: I will continue to support the follow-up development of the LTC and act as one of the important bridges for communications between the LTC team and the outside. The LTC Foundation, registered in Cayman (The Cayman Islands), is also in the pipeline. Charlie Lee have mentioned it in the latest letter to the miners. I believe the establishment of the LTC foundation can provide more driving forces to the development of LTC.
At the same time, we welcome all the enthusiasts who devote to the development of the Blockchain ecosystem to contact me, hand in hand, using Blockchain to make the world a better place.
Editor: Thank you very much, Mr. PZ. Wish you all the best.
Translated by bitcoin86.com, thank you very much.
