Drivechain

Basics

Open-source project
A drivechain is an alternative to the sidechain vision outlined in the original whitepaper. The Drivechain protocol is an alternative to the sidechain concept because it enables multiple blockchain compatibilities but the system utilizes the same 21 million bitcoins. Sztorc’s Drivechain system claims to allow permissionless innovation without diluting the value of the main cryptocurrency. Because a Drivechain is aligned with Nakamoto consensus it offers the security of the network but with an expanded set of services like smart contracts.

Sztorc has been working on the Drivechain project for quite some time now, and last December we reported on the two Drivechain BIP proposals Sztorc submitted for review and feedback. This week Sztorc explains he is pleased to announce the first Drivechain version called Testdrive and notes that the release is in two parts.

In a drivechain, miners signal the current state of a sidechain. In other words, the miners are essentially the custodian of funds, and they’re able to unfreeze funds for users who wish to move their coins back to the main chain.
One of the key tenets of drivechains is that miners are the least problematic custodians of funds being used on a sidechain from a game theory perspective. According to Sztorc, drivechains can be structured in a way in which any theft of coins frozen on the mainchain would obviously be orchestrated by miners.
Sideshift is one application among others created for the open-source project Drivechain

Team, investors, etc.

The drivechain concept was developed by Paul Sztorc, who is an economist at Bloq and the creator of Bitcoin Hivemind. On September 24, 2018, announced the launch of the first Drivechain release.