Author: Johnson Lau 2017-01-27 04:21:21
Published on: 2017-01-27T04:21:21+00:00
The current block size limit of 1MB is a point of contention in the Bitcoin community, with some arguing that it is too small and others arguing that it is too big. However, both approaches fail to take into account the potential consequences of their proposed solutions. While the current block size limit may be too big for many people to run a full node, other options exist besides reducing the block size. For example, blockchain pruning is available to address storage concerns, and UTXO size can be limited without limiting the block size by charging more for UTXO creation and offering incentives for UTXO spending. Additionally, long latency UTXO commitment can solve initial blockchain download issues, and a fraud-proof system can allow for probabilistic validation by SPV nodes.Luke Dashjr has put forth three hardfork-related BIPs to address the block size issue. The first proposal includes a block size limit protocol change that initially reduces the block size limit before gradually increasing it to 31MB. It also extends the witness discount to non-segwit transactions. The second proposal is a preparatory change that would allow certain hardforks to be transformed into softforks in the future by relaxing rule enforcement after a sufficient amount of time. The third proposal is an anti-replay softfork that prevents replay attacks using a new opcode for the Bitcoin scripting system. While the first proposal is recommended for adoption, the second proposal is still under review and the third proposal is posted for comments only.
Updated on: 2023-05-20T00:49:20.243865+00:00