(continued) Furthermore, except for in this thread, there seems to be very little concern for the new dynamics that this change could entail.  I highly respect Greg Maxwell (gmaxwell) and Andrew Poelstra (andytoshi), and I want to mention that they're pretty quick to point out the need for rigour in any proposed crypto-system.  Andytoshi wrote what's become a highly-cited paper on the dangers of altcoins designed by "amateurs."  New designs should be peer-reviewed by experts in the field, tested, etc., etc., etc.

But SPVP sidechains are not just a new cryptosystem.  They represent a change to the economics, game theory, politics, and probably even legal aspects of bitcoin.  For the same reason that amateur cryptographers may be blind to the weaknesses of their proposed cryptosystems, professional cryptographers may be blind to the change in incentives that their new cryptosystem entails.  SPVP sidechains should not be viewed as simply a technical problem; it's a multidisciplinary problem and we need to explore the concerns raised through many different lenses. 

In the meantime, there's already the potential for enormous growth ahead of us with bitcoin as it is.