Author: Eric Voskuil 2021-03-04 23:45:11
Published on: 2021-03-04T23:45:11+00:00
The Bitcoin community is currently in disagreement regarding the activation of taproot, with no clear consensus reached. One proposal that has been suggested is flag day activation, which involves choosing a block height after which the new taproot rules become enforced. This method eliminates the potential for social media attacks and brinksmanship, as miner signaling cannot be used to change the activation date for nodes that did not choose to passively follow signaling.Matt Corallo, a Bitcoin Core developer, proposed the flag day activation method to activate the Taproot upgrade for Bitcoin. This proposal aims to reduce the risk of miners accidentally activating a chain split by allowing nodes to reject blocks that don't signal support for Taproot. The proposal involves setting a specific block height by which all nodes must upgrade to the new software version. After this block height, any blocks that do not signal support for Taproot will be rejected by the upgraded nodes. This method is seen as a more efficient way to activate the upgrade compared to the previous method of miner signaling, which had the potential to cause chain splits.While some argue that flag day activation gives the impression that Core developers control the protocol, others counter that BIP8 with LOT=false gives the impression that miners control the protocol. Ultimately, someone will have to make a decision, and the Bitcoin economy and users will be asked what they think of flag day activation. If it turns out that Core developers do something evil, the community could resist it with a counter-flag-day-activation.The proposed flag day activation has received mixed responses from the Bitcoin community, with some expressing concerns about the risks associated with a sudden change in the network's consensus rules. Others have praised the proposal for reducing the reliance on miner signaling and allowing for a smoother activation process. The proposal has been discussed on the Bitcoin-dev mailing list and is open for feedback and suggestions from the community.The Taproot upgrade itself aims to improve privacy and scalability on the Bitcoin network by enabling more complex smart contract capabilities and reducing transaction fees. The current gridlock within the community regarding how to activate taproot is undesirable, and other methods may never happen. Flag day activation could be the best way forward to bring taproot to Bitcoin. The objections and risks associated with other methods are too controversial, but flag day activation should solve all of these issues.
Updated on: 2023-06-14T18:58:47.578409+00:00