Author: Erik Aronesty 2017-04-20 15:48:21
Published on: 2017-04-20T15:48:21+00:00
Bitcoin has two solutions to level the playing field for mining, otherwise it is fundamentally broken. The first solution is WTXID commitment which has a flag day upgrade as a fix to a serious security issue. However, the existence of patents on the code makes it even worse and less controversial. The second solution is embedding the code for performing a covert ASICBOOST into Bitcoin core's reference implementation. This, however, violates patents held in China and the U.S. The need for fixing security and licensing problems in Bitcoin is crucial. Some believe that a WTXID commitment would likely need to be a UASF, and it should be the focus of first efforts rather than the UASF movement. There is an argument that a critical design feature of a particular "user activated soft fork" could be that users don't need to be involved. Gregory Maxwell is disappointed that a public statement against the UASF proposal was made, stating that any UASF must be a grassroots effort and endorsements detract from that.
Updated on: 2023-06-12T00:11:40.502010+00:00