Two thoughts:
What would Satoshi think of sidechains?
(Hint: I suspect he likes them ... )
What if someone(s) involved with Blockstream is Satoshi?
Now it is all out in the open, like the source code, which for sidechains, does not even exist yet.
Cool a speculation thread with people talking about SC, I read the paper the other day and almost cried. This is truly a thing of beauty, I remember writing on my notes: 21Million BTC | ∞ SC Assets
Alot of smart people working on that team/with, likely he has been involved at some stage unbeknownst to all or most.
Sidechains seem to have no downsides for Bitcoin that I can see, and solve a bunch of really thorny problems. As long as they are defensible it should have huge value for a greatly expanded Bitcoin userbase. Probably for us BTC hodlers as well in monetary terms as well as for more philosophical aspects. Some sidechains could be totally 'licensed' to the government's satisfaction so all of the big names could jump on board.
My guess is that there will be some who try desperately to yank out Satoshi's 1MB cap ASAP before it's to late. As long as the cap is in place the system will be much more difficult to subvert or monopolize and that has been driving some clued in people crazy for as long as I've been watching things.