Author: Pieter Wuille 2015-08-06 15:26:11
Published on: 2015-08-06T15:26:11+00:00
In an email exchange between Gavin Andresen and Pieter Wuille in August 2015, the topic of Bitcoin's block size limit was discussed. Wuille proposed that if there were a sudden influx of users who wanted to pay high fees on 8MB blocks, it would make the blockchain inaccessible for low fee transactions and unreliable for medium fee transactions. However, Andresen said this was fine since marginal transactions would be priced out. Wuille argued that the network can "handle" any size and suggested that miners form Simplified Payment Verification (SPV) mining agreements to become less affected by the block size. Andresen disagreed with Wuille's approach, saying that being able to "handle" a particular rate is not a simple question but depends on the level of security, centralization, and risk for systemic error that we're willing to tolerate. He believed that successful companies tackle problems as they arise and are willing to deploy imperfect solutions if they help solve short-term problems. Wuille disagreed, stating that he didn't believe there was a short-term problem to begin with. The email exchange ended with Wuille expressing his dislike for the outlook of "being forever locked at the same scale" while technology evolves and proposing a solution that addressed this issue. Andresen acknowledged that consensus was against Wuille on this point and stressed the importance of finding a non-controversial solution that did not take unnecessary risks.
Updated on: 2023-05-19T21:18:43.019145+00:00