Is this a possible solution for the bitcoin side chain challenges???

[Brandsen]

It has come to my understanding that there are some challenges in constructing so called “side chains” that run in parallel with the main bitcoin blockchain.  
e.g. How will double spending be prevented? What is the incentive to mine a side chain?

Here comes my proposal for a different solution…

1. Send X amount of bitcoins to a smart contract
2. The smart contract is monitoring a specific burn address on the litecoin blockchain
3. Create some metacoins that operate on the Litecoin blockchain (meta-litecoins)
4. The meta-litecoins represents the ownership of the bitcoins held in the smart contract
5. The meta-litecoins is in this sense making the litecoin blokchain into a “bitcoin side chain”
6. When the holder of a certain amount of these meta-litecoins wants to redeem his/hers bitcoin, he/she will have to send them to the burn address (that is monitored by the smart contract)
7. This transaction needs to include a bitcoin address
8. The smart contract sees the transaction to the burn address and thereby sends the correct amount of bitcoins to the included bitcoin address.
The amount of bitcoins sent depends on the amount of metacoins that are sent to the burn address

I have used litecoin as an example, but any Alt-coin with a strong (safe) blockchain could be used..

Since I am not a developer and I do not possess the skill to code, I want to ask what you people think..?

Is something like this even possible?
And if so, is it a practical solution or not?
Can the smart contract be made secure enough, or will it be hacked?

All feedback is appreciated!
Thank You!

[gmaxwell]

You've just described the two way peg mechanism which is what people are usually talking about w/ sidechains-- there are a great many details that have to be added and gotten right; but that is the basic notion: Coins get assigned to a smart contract that lets them move according to some external system.

Much of the complexity arises because the consensus system cannot directly observe anything external (since its whole state must be subject to the consensus). Have you seen the sidechains paper?

[Brandsen]

I was not aware that the use of alt-coins as a carrier of the sidechain is already a part of the discussion. But thank you for bringing me up to date. This helps me better understand what is going on.
No I have not seen the sidechain paper.. Could you be so kind as to send me a link?

Thanks again for clarifying!

[cr1776]

PDF link on blockstream site:
http://www.blockstream.com/sidechains.pdf

:-)

I was not aware that the use of alt-coins as a carrier of the sidechain is already a part of the discussion. But thank you for bringing me up to date. This helps me better understand what is going on.
No I have not seen the sidechain paper.. Could you be so kind as to send me a link?

Thanks again for clarifying!