Author: Gregory Maxwell 2012-12-03 15:02:07
Published on: 2012-12-03T15:02:07+00:00
The concept of Bitcoin mining and the power of miners to define it is discussed in an email conversation between Michael Gronager and Pieter. However, it is emphasized that Bitcoin is not a democracy and every full node independently validates the rules of the system without influence from others. The system uses computational majority to determine only transaction ordering. A change in the system requires near-universal consensus that it is essential. The proposal for a hard fork of the system to pay unmoved coins to miners is considered economically hazardous. Concerns about problem transactions and unowned bitcoins are also addressed. The source of most problem transactions is identified as a single source that defies normal anti-spamming economic incentives. Three potential solutions are suggested: making client software aggressive about sweeping up dust inputs, changing the default relay and mining rules to penalize transactions with very small outputs, and incentivizing reductions in the UTXO set size. Additionally, incorporating a "destroy wallet" button for people with wallets that only have dust remaining is proposed to avoid perpetually bloating the UTXO set. These actions would substantially address concerns and be prerequisites for any argument that something more drastic (especially something that some would consider theft) is essential.
Updated on: 2023-05-19T16:14:59.864444+00:00