Author: James Hilliard 2017-06-07 00:56:10
Published on: 2017-06-07T00:56:10+00:00
A proposal has been made for a User Activated Soft Fork Split Protection mechanism called splitprotection to be implemented on the Bitcoin network. The proposed calendar for the SegWit2x agreement is considered too slow to activate SegWit mandatory signalling before BIP148 using BIP91, which may lead to a chain split. The splitprotection soft fork, essentially BIP91 but using BIP8 instead of BIP9 with a lower activation threshold and immediate mandatory signalling lock-in, allows for a majority of miners to activate mandatory SegWit signalling and prevent a potential chain split ahead of BIP148 activation. This BIP provides a way for a simple majority of miners to coordinate activation of the existing segwit deployment with less than 95% hashpower before BIP148 activation. Due to time constraints unless immediately deployed BIP91 will likely not be able to enforce mandatory signalling of segwit before the Aug 1st activation of BIP148. This BIP provides a method for rapid miner activation of SegWit mandatory signalling ahead of the BIP148 activation date. Since the primary goal of this BIP is to reduce the chance of an extended chain split as much as possible we activate using a simple miner majority of 65% over a 504 block interval rather than a higher percentage. This BIP also allows miners to signal their intention to run BIP148 in order to prevent a chain split.The splitprotection mechanism is compatible with the existing "segwit" bit 1 deployment scheduled between midnight November 15th, 2016 and midnight November 15th, 2017, as well as the existing BIP148 deployment. It is also compatible with BIP91 only if BIP91 activates before it and before BIP148. Miners will need to upgrade their nodes to support splitprotection otherwise they may build on top of an invalid block. By orphaning non-signalling blocks during the BIP9 bit 1 "segwit" deployment, this BIP can cause the existing "segwit" deployment to activate without needing to release a new deployment. As we approach BIP148 activation it may be desirable for a majority of miners to have a method that will ensure that there is no chain split.
Updated on: 2023-06-12T01:46:11.493348+00:00