Author: Zac Greenwood 2021-06-30 06:39:41
Published on: 2021-06-30T06:39:41+00:00
The ability to confirm transactions in Bitcoin lies with the majority of hash power. However, miners cannot decide whether a block is valid or not. Hash power is only recognized if it's used to create a valid block following the rules set by the node software chosen by transacting users. Users define Bitcoin, not miners, which is fundamental to being decentralized.Developers who understand this should be honest about it instead of misleading people into believing there is an activation choice with ensured equal outcomes. Soft forks are rule changes that are incompatible unless enforced by hash power. The largest investment in mining determines censorship resistance, and users decide what to run, making it how free software works.The taproot upgrade has brought up concerns from both sides regarding upgrade mechanisms. BIP8 LOT=true proponents argue that lazy miners failing to upgrade in a timely manner slow down releases of bitcoin upgrades, while BIP9 / BIP8 LOT=false proponents worry that LOT=true can lead to undesirable forks that might cause chaos.A proposal put forth by Billy Tetrud suggests using trinary version signaling rather than binary signaling to solve both problems. This allows for three signaling states: actively support the change, actively oppose the change, or not signaling (neither supporting nor opposing). Using this additional information, non-contentious upgrades can be released much quicker with a lower percentage of miners signaling support.For contentious upgrades, miners who oppose the change are incentivized to update their software to a version that can actively signal opposition to the change. Eric Voskuil argues that ultimately, the only answer to preventing a split is to get majority hash power support. Luke Dashjr notes that BIP8 LOT=True just ensures miners cannot block an upgrade entirely but can still slow it down. It already has the trinary state suggested by Tetrud. Users who oppose the softfork can and should treat the successful signal (whether MASF or UASF) as invalid, thereby ensuring they do not follow a chain with the rules in force. Softforks are coordinated between users, NOT miners (who have no particular say in them, aside from their role as also being users). The miner involvement is only out of necessity and potentially to accelerate activation by protecting upgrade-lagging users.In conclusion, while Tetrud's proposal offers a potential solution to the concerns brought up in the taproot upgrade discussion, Voskuil and Dashjr argue that ultimately, it comes down to getting majority hash power support and coordination between users, not just miners. Bitcoin resolves the question of conflicting wants, but it is not a democracy, it's a market. One votes by trading. Mining is trading capital now for more later, and anyone can mine, so everyone gets a say.
Updated on: 2023-06-14T23:32:45.696575+00:00