Bitcoin Unlimited was founded in November 2015 with the principal aims of bringing onchain-scaling to Bitcoin and to provide a mechanism for democratic governance to deciding major functional changes. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then.
The situation in September 2021 is that the organisation is supporting Bitcoin Cash (BCH) as the best scalable form of Bitcoin. In June, the membership approved the launching of a new chain, project name NextChain, which is intended to pilot new features in a real-world environment where monetary value exists for the coin units. Changes for this chain will be fully dependent upon the BU membership as the lead development team. BCH is struggling in the rankings as many new coins are launched with new features, so it is intended that new features “battle-hardened” via the NextChain project will more easily be accepted and merged into the BCH codebase. A similar situation exists with Kusama piloting for Polkadot.
This is the background context for which BU members make their decisions. BU members are a microcosm of the Bitcoin onchain-scaling community, they guide the direction of the org, so we ask that they vote a few times a year. Being active in outreach or development is always a bonus and welcomed.
New BU Membership Applications
It is great to see new people interested in BU. New members are welcome, however, to preserve the integrity of the organisation long-term it is important that they are wisely chosen by the existing members. In order that this can be done it is therefore important to see a good biographical summary, a clear vision concerning Bitcoin’s future and links to social media history , on-line postings and writings on Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, or any associated disciplines in science - such as economics, computing, mathematics, psychology etc.
It is to your detriment, and likely failure to achieve a successful margin of votes if your application post is brief, off-topic or lacking necessary links for the existing members to make an evaluation. We ask that you review responses to your post and update with anything further which is necessary.
BU Voting
We require a BCH/BTC address (zero balance, never used) which can be used to sign voting messages during future votes on BU improvement proposals (BUIPs) with previous history shown.(Bitcoin Unlimited Voting System)
Info about BU: Bitcoin Unlimited.
The BU Articles of Federation are here.
Several voting sessions are held per year with one or more BUIPs open to accept or reject. Non-voting for over one year will result in membership expiry, however it is possible to apply to rejoin.