Author: Hector Chu 2015-08-19 11:15:28
Published on: 2015-08-19T11:15:28+00:00
Bitcoin is experiencing a failure of consensus due to disagreements on how to fix the design flaw caused by the block size fiasco. The root cause of the issue is a lack of incentive for users to run nodes, causing a reduction in node count and centralization. To save Bitcoin in the short and long run, focus must be placed on solving this issue. Satoshi Nakamoto offers several suggestions, including improving the current lottery-like incentive system for mining and decentralizing proof-of-work. A public technical forum is also important for achieving consensus and preventing censorship or ignorance of others. Additionally, stronger ties between transaction validation and proof-of-work are necessary, with fees paid to nodes to incentivize their support of the network. The timechain will allow individual transactions to be mined instead of blocks per se, and transaction POW difficulty can be adjusted to follow a smooth trajectory. Nodes only need to work on valid transactions, and larger fees and smaller transaction sizes will be prioritized for mining. Decentralization of nodes is encouraged to be closer to the location of real transaction origination.
Updated on: 2023-06-10T20:36:45.565129+00:00