Author: Raystonn . 2015-06-01 18:39:31
Published on: 2015-06-01T18:39:31+00:00
Mike Hearn, a Bitcoin developer, argues that it is impossible to hit one million transactions per day without raising the maximum block size. As the average block size approaches its limit, growth slows down and the number of transactions per day becomes highly correlated with the average block size. This suggests that it would be impossible to reach VISA scale at current block size limits. Hearn also discusses the issue of security if software does not understand the increased block size. He suggests that by increasing the block size, SPV wallets will remain the same while fully validating wallets can be updated with a small code change. However, an old client making a payment that only gets confirmed in an extension block may cause confusion for the wallet and user. Hearn clarifies his stance on scalability and argues that he has never claimed that Bitcoin will reach VISA scale anytime soon, as it would require decades or some unimagined killer app. He explains that the core Bitcoin network can scale to much higher transaction rates than are seen today, assuming that nodes in the network are primarily running on high-end servers rather than desktops.
Updated on: 2023-06-09T22:05:17.914231+00:00