Author: Anthony Towns 2021-04-06 19:48:19
Published on: 2021-04-06T19:48:19+00:00
On the Bitcoin development mailing list, a discussion took place regarding the MTP (median time past) lock-in for activation of soft forks. The variable "time_until_next_retargeting_period" was highlighted as one whose distribution could straddle between 0 and 14 days if the MIN_LOCKIN_TIME ends up close to a retargeting boundary. It was noted that the observed time frame of a single retarget period over the last few years on mainnet is 11-17 days, and if LOCKED_IN is determined by a min lock-in time, then activation should be expected to occur between 11 and 34 days. The author also discussed the potential risk of a persistent two-week error in estimating the activation time (which nodes need to strive to be upgraded), which may not be resolved until only two weeks prior to activation. This would result in much worse estimates than provided by height-based activation. However, the author did not view this as an important design goal, as a last-minute two-week delay seems easy to deal with, while making estimates of how many blocks we might have in an X month period X+K months in advance is not. The short of it is that MTP LOCKIN only really guarantees a minimum 2-week notice prior to activation.
Updated on: 2023-05-21T02:16:12.320125+00:00