Author: Eric Lombrozo 2015-12-26 08:23:38
Published on: 2015-12-26T08:23:38+00:00
The block withholding issue can be fixed with a hard fork that includes a block size increase. However, a soft fork solution has also been proposed by jl2012, which involves adding an invisible difficulty while keeping the retarget algorithm and bits semantics the same. This would decrease the visible difficulty automatically to compensate for the added difficulty, allowing for a lower visible difficulty at the next retarget without changing the algorithm or semantics. This solution would result in longer confirmation times, lower throughput, and lower miner revenue, but could be compensated for by increasing block rewards and size. However, this approach adds significant complications to the protocol and requires nontrivial app migration efforts, making it more trouble than it's worth. Luke-Jr's solution is simpler and more elegant and stands a reasonable chance of near universal support. Soft fork alternatives are very ugly and significantly impact system usability, and theory tells us we can't do any better.
Updated on: 2023-06-11T02:30:32.076509+00:00