This paper is a HUGE DEAL in the bitcoin community. Sidechains in theory could address lots of the scalability issues of Bitcoin and could accelerate the roll out of new features.<p>However, there are many strong opinions on both sides as to whether sidechains are desirable and/or technically possible.
Excellent explanation of how Bitcoin works and its shortcomings. Bit of a Bitcoin newb, but how are decisions currently made in regards to implementing new features? Are Alt-Coins similarly hard to change (mostly thinking about Litecoin) ?