Author: Eric Voskuil 2017-03-26 03:00:51
Published on: 2017-03-26T03:00:51+00:00
A recent post on bitcoin-dev discussed the possibility of a blockchain split and associated confusion, replay risk, etc., with the coming network upgrade to larger blocks. In this scenario, a minority that does not want to abide by the ruleset enforced by the majority could change the proof-of-work and start a spin-off from the existing Bitcoin ledger, which is essentially an altcoin.The plan seems to be a response to the industry call for replay protection. However, the author of the post finds it hard to imagine how a plan to create two new altcoins from Bitcoin avoids either a split or confusion. Additionally, application of hash power toward the disruption of Bitcoin presumes participating miners are willing to accept a total loss on these operations. The author suggests that writing code for replay protection is another option rather than creating two new altcoins. Furthermore, nobody including miners has any way to measure what software the economy (or hash power) is running, or what is the economic weight of that portion of the economy.
Updated on: 2023-05-20T01:10:00.808971+00:00