Author: Ariel Luaces 2021-02-19 02:20:37
Published on: 2021-02-19T02:20:37+00:00
The Bitcoin community is currently discussing the activation mechanism for Taproot, a proposed soft fork. While many agree that Taproot is a huge improvement for Bitcoin, there is concern about the risk of a chain split during its activation. Several soft forks in Bitcoin have resulted in several-block reorgs, so it's important to carefully consider activation to reduce this risk as much as possible.In a recent bitcoin-dev discussion, Michael Folkson argued that some voices in the discussion need to be more humble about what users must or must not run. He also pointed out that defaults set in software versions matter though as many users won't change them. Ariel Lorenzo-Luaces responded by listing quotes from ephemeral people in two IRC discussions and showing that all the arguments for LOT=true were rooted in the assumption that everyone must upgrade to the latest version because of course they will. Ariel agreed with Michael's recommendation to set LOT=false in protocol implementations. Samson Mow asked who "we" refers to when Michael said "we risk arriving at the darkest timeline." Michael clarified that he meant everyone involved in the discussion of the activation mechanism. Matt Corallo added that the activation method itself is consensus code which executes as a part of a fork and ultimately defines a fork, and given the politics around it, one which almost certainly carries significantly more risk than Taproot. Keagan McClelland argued that taproot is a non-intrusive change and that choosing to let L=F be a somewhat final call sets a very real precedent that 10% of what he estimates to be 1% of bitcoin users can effectively block any change from here on forward.There is also discussion around the possibility of a UASF (user-activated soft fork) movement if Taproot's activation fails. However, the outcome of such a movement is uncertain. In any case, it's important to prepare for bad or worst-case scenarios in advance and minimize trust in human actors. Some members of the community suggest releasing both LOT=true and LOT=false options and letting the network decide which to use. Others recommend requiring a `taprootlot=1` or `taprootlot=0` in releases to give users the choice without forcing a particular option on them.The recent Taproot activation meeting discussed whether LOT (lockinontimeout) should be set to true or false. There were arguments for both sides, but there was more strong opposition against LOT=true from Bitcoin Core contributors, Lightning developers, and other community members. Some mining pools also expressed a preference for lot=false. The meeting was challenging since it was open to all, and it wasn't representative of the entire community. As a result, the only option to propose Taproot activation parameters to the community at this time is to propose LOT=false. Any further delay is counterproductive in getting the Taproot soft fork activated as early as possible. A code review of the Bitcoin Core PR #19573 is planned for February 23rd at 19:00 UTC on the IRC channel ##taproot-activation. However, some argue that if there is contention about being stubborn or lenient with miners for Taproot, it's better not to activate anything at all. They are willing to call bitcoin ossified and accept that SegWit is Bitcoin's last network upgrade. They believe that no new feature is worth a network split down the middle. It is essential to understand that an activation mechanism is a consensus change like any other change, can be contentious like any other change, and we must resolve it like any other change; otherwise, we risk arriving at the darkest timeline.The context provided is a series of email chains from the bitcoin-dev mailing list. The emails include information about how to subscribe to the mailing list and contact details for Michael Folkson, who is a member of the list. The bitcoin-dev mailing list is hosted by the Linux Foundation and is used by developers working on Bitcoin-related projects to discuss technical aspects of the cryptocurrency. The list is open to anyone interested in contributing to Bitcoin development and includes discussions on topics such as software updates, security issues, and network scalability. To become part of this community, one needs to subscribe to the mailing list by following the link provided in the email chains.
Updated on: 2023-06-14T17:58:24.276008+00:00