Implementation of Verifier in Ethereum / Comparison with BTC Relay

[amiller]

Our scheme can be directly compared to BTC Relay. BTC Relay is an Ethereum contract that keeps track of every block in the Bitcoin blockchain.

If blocks were much faster, then this would provide a mechanism to "skip" blocks.

[amiller]

I've asked Joseph Chow (btc relay author) for information about BTC Relay's usage so far. This could provide a means of comparison.

[amiller]

Response from Joseph Chow:

josephc [6:08 PM] 
hi Andrew, unfortunately haven't tried analysing the data on BTC Relay, but I think it's quite limited :confused:  Going to have a meeting in ConsenSys next week to discuss the direction for supporting BTC Relay.  Here are my estimates:
1. < 1ETH (and that's at fiat prices from 6+ months ago)
2. I don't think anyone submitted a transaction proof.  The main user of BTC Relay was a lottery that used it to get the bitcoin blockhash to determine the winner.

[6:08] 
3. I haven't heard of other BTC Relay-like implementations for any other coins