Author: jl2012 2015-12-17 05:32:11
Published on: 2015-12-17T05:32:11+00:00
There are two proposals on the table for increasing the block size limit in Bitcoin: SegWit soft fork (SWSF) with a 1MB virtual block limit, approximately equal to a 2MB actual limit, and BIP102 with a 2MB actual limit. SWSF has the advantage of being a softfork, but it is complex and may not be ready in six months. On the other hand, BIP102 is a hardfork, but it is simple and could be deployed with ISM in less than a month. The major criticism of a hardfork is that everyone needs to upgrade, but there is evidence from BIP50 and BIP66 that suggests a five-month pre-announcement is good enough for a simple hardfork. The primary proposal is to formally consult the major miners and merchants if they support a one-off rise to 2MB until 15 Jan 2016. From 16-31 Jan 2016, release 0.11.3 with BIP102 with ISM vote requiring 80% of hashing power. From 1 Jun 2016, the first day a 2MB block may be allowed. Before 31 Dec 2016, release SWSF. The secondary proposal is to work on SWSF in a turbo mode and have a deadline of 1 Jun 2016. Matt Corallo via bitcoin-dev argues that SW will take longer to deploy than a hardfork, but this opinion is not shared by the author. Though the ecosystem may take some time to upgrade, once the code is ready, SWSF can be deployed very quickly. A hardfork, while simpler for the ecosystem to upgrade to, is a 1-2 year affair.
Updated on: 2023-06-11T02:15:35.309299+00:00