Author: Michael Folkson 2021-03-04 10:54:19
Published on: 2021-03-04T10:54:19+00:00
In an email exchange between Michael Folkson and Ariel Luaces, they discuss the activation of Taproot on Bitcoin. Michael expressed concern that the greatest risk to Taproot dying a slow death is a small group of conservative developers who are ignoring the work done by others and blocking progress until they find their philosopher's stone. He believes that consensus on one parameter of an activation mechanism does not need to be as high as it is on the actual soft fork that is being activated. Ariel, on the other hand, believes that the current risk to Taproot and all future activations is a loud minority of users who are threatening to co-opt a LOT=false activation by switching the parameter and organizing a marketing blitz that could end in a fork if things don't go well. As long as that threat persists, consensus won't be reached. He thinks Bitcoin is fine staying as is until that minority forks off with their own alt-node. If the UASF (User Activated Soft Fork) minority is dead set on creating the alt-node, then he hopes it's released quickly so the deadlock can break. A quick UASF fork allows for an early LOT=false activation. Michael counters that Ariel misunderstands BIP 8 (LOT=true), and although no timetable has been finalized yet, the earliest the MUST_SIGNAL period would kick in is around July 2022. This doesn't sound very quick to him if Ariel seeks a LOT=false release after a LOT=true release has failed to activate. Michael concludes by saying that he hopes people will reconsider their stance when July 2022 (or later) approaches and a LOT=true (UASF) version is the only way to activate Taproot.
Updated on: 2023-06-14T18:55:18.590762+00:00