Add BUIPs from 156 to 163

156.md

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+    BUIP156: Andrew Stone For Developer
+    Submitted by: Andrew Stone
+    Date: 2020-11-22
+    Status: draft
+
+I would like to continue my efforts on your behalf to push the state-of-the-art in cryptocurrency technologies, to grow the Bitcoin Cash cryptocurrency, and to build awesome software under the Bitcoin Unlimited banner.
+
+### My Philosophy:
+
+In the last few years, much progress has been made, although much still needs to be done. As BU developer, its my job to both steer the direction of Bitcoin Unlimited's technology, and to work on my own development work. In regards to steering, I've been encouraging BU to excel on multiple fronts. I believe that BU needed and still needs to broaden our focus beyond the full node, since the most valuable thing anyone could be doing right now is working towards end-user use and adoption. But gaining adoption is hard acting solely as software buried deep in the bitcoin software "stack" -- we need to provide tools and services closer to the end user.
+
+### My Leadership:
+
+The BU development team has continued to deliver a leading Bitcoin Cash full node, with an admirable defect count (in comparison with ABC's multiple hard-fork vulnerabilities and block production problem).
+
+We lead the space in scalability and have delivered innovative features such as Graphene block transfer and deep unconfirmed transaction chains. We continue to explore and develop new technologies, such as miner validated tokens, new opcodes, blockchain voting technology, Bobtail block confirmation, and Storm probabilistic confirmations.
+
+We have supported wider efforts that are aligned with our goals, such as Tom Zander's doublespend proof development and our own Bitcoin Cash Specfication effort, in conjunction with Bitcoin Verde as our content partner.
+
+At the same time, we have dramatically broadened the scope of Bitcoin Unlimited's software offerings. Most importantly, we support and have integrated the Electrscash server into our full node. This allows full nodes to present blockchain information in a manner easily consumable by SPV (phone and light) wallets, which is arguably an important service of non-economically significant (home user) nodes. And we support and develop a blockchain explorer bch-rpc-explorer.
+
+I feel that I have been responsive to BUIP requests coming from members. You can see the status here: http://www.bitcoinunlimited.net/buip/summary. But remember that the BUIP system is made of checks-and-balances -- a passed BUIP is not a decree that BU engineers must drop everything and implement the feature. Rather, its a pre-determination that *if such a feature gets developed, it will be merged*. A lot of people who are critical of the BU process as a democracy ("tyranny of the masses", "benevolent dictators work best for software projects" type arguments) do not understand this subtlety.
+
+
+### My Development Work:
+
+In my own development work, I've been doing a variety of projects:
+
+First, I extracted important BCH functionality from bitcoind into an application library called libbitcoincash. We have bindings for this library in C++, Python and Kotlin, and use it in my "txunami" transaction generator (scalability testing) and in our Python QA tests.
+
+The Kotlin library has been expanded into a fully-featured library "libbitcoincashkotlin" that also included a Electrum and P2P client layer. While it is true that there exists other client libraries, this one has an advantage that it directly uses much of the trickiest functionality in the full node. This reduces the likelihood of forking bugs and decreases maintenance cost (since its the same code).
+
+I've also just announced an Android wallet named WallyWallet built on top of libbitcoincashkotlin. Although its still in "beta", I've been using it personally for about a year now. It supports all the basic P2P functionality such as bitpay payment protocols, etc. Its not yet released because I would like to build some interesting new ideas on top of it first. You can read one of them here: http://www.bitcoinunlimited.net/delegated_payment_protocol.
+
+I am also experimenting with a variety of new opcodes and advanced technologies over at www.nextchain.cash. These include large number integer math, miner validated tokens, transaction introspection, and script subroutines. This website itself is generated via a wiki engine called "cwik" (pronounced quick) which I wrote. Its a wiki that uses the BCHidentity (http://www.bitcoinunlimited.net/identity__protocol) protocol for authorization, and git and .md files as source material. The purpose is to allow easy access and redisplay of the information created as part of the Bitcoin Cash Specification effort. But I also intend to use it as a venue to show how cryptographic identity can help solve the huge internet misinformation problem that is confronting the entire world. In essence, passages will be able to be +1 or -1 via your persistent cryptographic identity (which may or may not be connected to a real identity) and these identities can be affirmed by other sources, some of which may be considered an authority. For example, colleges might affirm the identity of graduates as having a degree in certain fields. Users may filter comments and other activity based on these affirmations, and correlate activity across the web or different topics. By looking at +1 or -1 votes across multiple topics, correlated with identity, analysis tools would be able to determine significant bifurcated opinions and correlate opinions across topics. Ultimately such a system could be used to resolve the "wiki edit wars" found in the BCH page for example, by noting a major difference of opinion and bifurcating the page. This system of credibility is likely to work much better than today's "proof-of-no-other-value" (i.e. the person who has the most time to devote to edits, re-edits, and arguments wins) that dominates wikipedia, and "the-most-sensational-wins" system that dominates social media.
+
+
+Thanks for reading, and I hope that you will vote for me for another term as your Developer!

157.md

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+    BUIP 157: Continue Funding a Developer
+    Submitted by: Peter Tschipper
+    Date: 2020-12-01
+    Status: draft
+
+## Summary:
+
+I still believe this project, over all other cryptos, to have the best chance for significant adoption/scaling, and look forward to continuing to be a part of making it happen, as I have been for the last 5 years.
+
+This BUIP 157 replaces BUIP 134 from last years funding.
+
+## Budget:
+
+This BUIP authorizes 100,000 USD a year (paid monthly in crypto) to continue this work. This includes a 4% cost of living bump over last years’ 96,000.
+
+
+## Contributions to this project:
+
+Over the last years aside from the daily grind of fixing bugs, reviewing code and implementing small features, I’ve made the following significant contributions:
+
+- Xthinblocks
+- Parallel Validation
+- Implemented compact blocks and worked with George Bissias to get the first graphene implementation working on main net. We now seamlessly support all three block relay types in BU.
+- Created the first Bitcoin implementation of CPFP that has the ability to efficiently mine long unconfirmed chains.
+- Finished the implementation of dsproofs.
+- Concatenated transactions which saves significant bandwidth under high load.
+- Implemented Xpress Validation during mining which significantly improves the performance of mining large blocks. Only 10% of the time is now spend in the validation phase of mining rather than 50%.
+- Created a priority queue for sending and receiving priority p2p messages. This ensures that block relay is never affected by a backed up transaction queue.
+
+You can view my daily contribs here : https://github.com/ptschip and also https://gitlab.com/ptschip
+
+## Current work:
+
+- Adding double spend notifications to the BU wallet as well as ZMQ messages.
+- Unbounded Transaction chains: The final step in removing the unconfirmed chain limit in BU and currently being reviewed in dev. It allows the efficient mempool admission of infinite unconfirmed transaction chains while at the same time preserving CPFP functionality.
+

158.md

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+    BUIP 158: Funding for SysAdmin/Developer
+    Proposer: @sickpig
+    Submitted on: 2020-11-30
+    Status: draft
+
+## Summary
+
+I lost my independent funding in November of this year, regardless I would like to continue working on the Bitcoin Unlimited projects as a full time developer and devops, as I have been doing since since 2015.
+
+From mid 2015 till the end of 2016 I worked on the project on my free time, luckily enough later on I got an offer to have my full time work for Bitcoin Unlimited funded and this is what I did and I'm still doing so far.
+
+## Budget
+
+This BUIP authorises 84,000 EUR a year (paid monthly in crypto) to continue this work.
+
+Other then the day to day tasks of reviewing pull requests from others, fixing bugs and implementing minor enhancements, the following are the main contributions I made to the BCH Unlimited client and more in general to other Bitcoin Unlimited projects:
+
+
+## Main contribution to the project so far
+
+- Testing Xthinblocks crossing over the great firewall of China
+- Lead the testing operation of Gigablock Network Initiative that stem in the scaling bitcoin 2017 presentation slides and video
+- Porting BTC address seeder over to Bitcoin Cash, see: https://github.com/sickpig/bitcoin-seeder
+- Porting bitnodes crawler over to Bitcoin Cash
+- Ported and currently maintaining a javascript based block explorer for Bitcoin Cash
+- Develop and maintain a web front end to expose the data gathered by the BCH nodes crawler
+- Maintaing and cordinate the development of the main [BU website](www.bitcoinunlimited.info)
+- Operate a bunch of public services for the BCH community (**):
+    * explorer.bitcoinunlimited.info (mainnet BCH explorer)
+    * texplorer.bitcoinunlimited.info (testnet3 explorer)
+    * Mainnet electrum server: electrs.bitcoinunlimited.info s50002
+    * casnodes.io (web front end and nodes crawler for BCH mainnet)
+    * btccash-seeder.bitcoinunlimited.info (node seeder for the BCH mainet)
+- Moved all Bitcoin Unlimited projects from gihub to gitlab
+- Managed all the BCH Unlimited releases since we started to publish a client implementation for the Bitcoin Cash protocol
+- Manage and operate the Ubuntu PPA repositories for the BCH Unlimited clients
+- Operate the protocol upgrade activation tests since BCH started the 6 months network upgrade release schedule
+- [The detailed list](https://github.com/BitcoinUnlimited/BitcoinUnlimited/pulls?q=is%3Apr+sort%3Aupdated-desc+is%3Amerged+author%3Asickpig)  of all the pull requests (PR) that have been merged onto the BCH unlimited code base while repository was hosted at github
+- This is [detailed list of the merge requests](https://gitlab.com/bitcoinunlimited/BCHUnlimited/-/merge_requests?author_username=sickpig&page=2&scope=all&sort=created_date&state=merged) (MR) that have been merged onto the BCH Unlimited code base since we move the repository from github over to gitlab (start from MR 2246 and up.
+- You can view my daily contributions here: <https://github.com/sickpig> and <https://gitlab.com/sickpig>
+
+
+## My plan for the next year
+
+- Continue the review and QA contributions to BCH unlimited C++ client
+- Contribute the C++ code base via bugs fixing and various enhancements
+- Continue to maintain and operate the list of services listed above (**)
+- make BU to work with the [corgi](https://gitlab.com/bitcoin-cash-node/bchn-sw/corgi/-/commits/master/) (test/performance framework)
+- performance measuring of the various protocol client implementatioisn now that Scalanet has been integrated in the BCH Unlimited code base
+

159.md

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+    BUIP159: Ecosystem Outreach & Marketing for BU & On-chain Scaling 2021
+    Submitted by: singularity
+    Date: 2020-12-02
+    Status: draft
+
+## Motivation
+Bitcoin Unlimited is one of the most important assets to the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem. With a wealth of talented developers and members, a substantial war chest of financial resources, and a time-tested organisational structure, BU is in an excellent position to achieve its goals and push BCH forward.
+
+Now that BCH has successfully overcome ABC’s attempt to add a tax to BCH, it is time to refocus our efforts on the future of Bitcoin Cash. BU’s consistent focus on bringing peer-to-peer electronic cash to as many people as possible has not wavered, and it is important that these efforts are maximised.
+
+## Objectives
+There will be two primary goals with this BUIP, and these goals align with Bitcoin Unlimited’s mission.
+
+Consistent and high-quality communication between Bitcoin Unlimited and the BCH ecosystem.
+This goal follows and builds upon the work done throughout 2020. By using resources to communicate BU’s core message and initiatives, not only to the BCH ecosystem but also to the wider cryptocurrency industry, BU’s impact can be amplified.
+
+This will include:
+- Communication with members and the leadership of BU to understand what activities are happening within BU, and provide input where needed.
+- A continued active social presence across multiple relevant platforms (Twitter, Telegram, Reddit).
+- Weekly podcasts including interviews, discussions and debates of BU leaders, members and other relevant guests.
+- Content written to communicate key messages from Bitcoin Unlimited to the wider BCH ecosystem.
+- Content written to provide broadly useful information for people new to Bitcoin Cash.
+- Management of the new Bitcoin Unlimited website. (See BUIP161)
+
+### Bring more developers into the BCH ecosystem.
+This is a new focus I am proposing for BU for 2021. This will be achieved through various initiatives including the CoinParty hackathon to get developers building on BCH, BUIP160 to create a more streamlined on-ramp system for developers new to BCH, BUIP161 to refresh the Bitcoin Unlimited website, and possibly an in-person conference later in the year (if travel restrictions let up).
+- Management of BCH Dev on-ramp system project.
+- Event organisation.
+- Other developer-focussed initiatives.
+
+## Funding
+Budget of £70,000 over a twelve-month period commencing from the date of vote. This funding will go towards the services that I and my staff provide to Bitcoin Unlimited. Payments are to be made monthly.
+
+As to why this budget is above that of BUIP148 and BUIP132, the costs involved in them over-ran by about 30-40%, which I personally absorbed in the form of extra time worked. This new budget aims to be more inline with the costs.
+
+The elected BU officials: President, Secretary and Developer will jointly agree expenditures for this BUIP and will monitor progress through monthly reviews.
+
+## Previous Related BUIPs
+- [BUIP132: Ecosystem Outreach & Marketing for BU & On-chain Scaling](132.md)
+- [BUIP148: Ecosystem Outreach & Marketing for BU & On-chain Scaling 2](148.md)
+- [BUIP153: BU Blockparty - Let's Get Building On Bitcoin Cash!](153.md0
+
+Here are the reviews ([as per this proposal](https://bitco.in/forum/threads/buip-proposal-build-and-maintain-trust-in-bu-through-transparency-and-accountability.26854/)) for BUIP148 and BUIP153:
+
+- [BUIP148 Review - October 2020](https://bitco.in/forum/threads/buip148-review-october-2020.27220/)
+- [BUIP153 Review - October 2020](https://bitco.in/forum/threads/buip153-review-october-2020.27221/)
+- BUIP148 Review - November 2020
+- BUIP153 Review - November 2020
+
+## New Related BUIPs
+- BUIP160: BCH Developer On-ramp System
+- BUIP161: Bitcoin Unlimited Website Refresh
+
+
+## Impact of Services Provided During 2020
+
+
+![improved perception of BU](/media/159_image0.png)
+
+- "Do you think BU is valuable to the BCH ecosystem?" = +20% improvement
+- "Do you support the idea of multiple implementations for BCH?" = 0% change
+- "Do you think BU has a strong vision for the future of BCH?" = +20% improvement
+- "Do you think Bitcoin Unlimited is a competent organization?" = +19% improvement
+- "Would you run a BU node or recommend BCH businesses run a BU node?" = +16% imrovement
+
+
+## Expected Impact for 2021
+By better communicating the excellent work that BU does within the ecosystem through the use of visually rich, digestible and branded messaging, BU will become an even more capable leader for the BCH ecosystem. It will allow BU to communicate complex but crucial subjects more effectively while reaching a wider audience. This BUIP will encourage further engagement and participation of not only the BU membership but also the wider BCH community in BU, which will offer significant advantages over the long-term.
+
+By pulling in more developers into the BCH ecosystem, BU will gain access to the talented people it requires to achieve its vision for the future, a global peer-to-peer electronic cash. The BCH ecosystem in general will also gain enormously from having an ever expanding talent pool. A stronger BCH will mean a stronger BU thanks to greater access to resources and funding.