Author: Luke Dashjr 2016-12-02 04:18:21
Published on: 2016-12-02T04:18:21+00:00
On December 2, 2016, Jorge Timón via bitcoin-dev proposed a new Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) for warning users of a hard fork when a block is invalid. The proposal would require full nodes to hold back at the best-common block between the best-valid chain and the invalid chain, forcing the user to decide whether to reject the invalid chain permanently or upgrade to a version that understands the chain as valid. The proposal also discusses the use of a prohibited bit to signal a soft-hardfork while distinguishing it from a regular hardfork and notes that nodes implementing this BIP will see it as a simple hardfork but intentionally provide equivalent behavior as older nodes that see it as a soft-hardfork. This means that all compatible hardforks will behave like a soft-hardfork without any special DMMS design. Ultimately, this proposal could make it easier to resist an un-consented-to hardfork, and if Bitcoin's eventual hardfork is far enough down the road, the SHF design could be done away with entirely.
Updated on: 2023-06-11T20:44:02.301098+00:00