Published on: 2021-06-22T18:40:19+00:00
During a recent Bitcoin development meeting, the community discussed various topics related to Layer 2 (L2) protocols, including network transaction fee rates and relay. It was acknowledged that perfect security guarantees on these aspects are not possible, but efforts were made to strengthen the security assumption of L2 protocols like Lightning and DLCs. Ideas such as fee-sensitive timelocks, transaction relay overlay networks, and miners' profit incentive were discussed.The idea of fee-sensitive timelocks was raised, which would require a soft fork. This concept aims to increase the resilience of the Lightning Network during periods of fee congestion. The workshop also explored the possibility of using fee-bumping techniques to close or restructure channels during elevated fee markets.The impact of changes to Bitcoin Core on L2 protocols was a topic of discussion. Some changes in Bitcoin Core, particularly privacy improvements, may conflict with the goal of minimizing transaction propagation times. To address this, a suggestion was made to create a nightly bitcoind build, allowing L2 developers to write regression tests against the latest builds.The meeting also touched upon full Replace-by-Fee (RBF) proposals. While a proposal for full RBF in a future version of Bitcoin Core was posted, concerns were raised about the potential creation of mempool partitions and its impact on businesses relying on zero confirmations. Ariard, the proposer, plans to reach out to such businesses to assess the implications of this change.Next week's meeting will focus on fee bumping and package relay advancements in Bitcoin Core, specifically the work done by glozow. The discussion log and additional notes from the meeting can be found in the L2 zoology repository set up by ariard.Overall, the workshop aimed to address the challenges of guaranteeing secure transaction propagation and inclusion in time-sensitive mined blocks within L2 protocols. While perfect security guarantees may not be feasible, the community explored various ideas and proposals to strengthen the security assumption and improve the overall efficiency and functionality of Bitcoin transactions.
Updated on: 2023-08-02T04:12:11.188042+00:00