Author: Andrew Chow 2017-03-23 23:14:28
Published on: 2017-03-23T23:14:28+00:00
Bitcoin Testnet has experienced chain splits and reorganizations due to a backward compatibility issue between nodes running version 0.12.x and those running 0.13.0 or higher. This is because the latter requires Segregated Witness (SegWit) functionality and therefore rejects blocks received from 0.12.x nodes with stripped witnesses. As Testnet has fewer nodes and less difficulty, some miners may use 0.13.0+ mining blocks which do not propagate well, leading to multiple chain splits and reorgs as other miners find blocks for the same height before receiving a block for that height. The problem cannot currently be exploited maliciously, but a 0.13+ node may become isolated by 0.12 peers without notice to the owner. Alternative Bitcoin implementations may act as bridges between the two versions and facilitate chain reorgs.
Updated on: 2023-05-20T01:07:25.652270+00:00