Author: John Dillon 2013-05-09 01:27:33
Published on: 2013-05-09T01:27:33+00:00
In a discussion from May 2013, Pieter Wuille and Jeff Garzik were discussing the relevance of the year 2038 in relation to Bitcoin's block header format. Garzik suggested that it was not necessary to worry about this date as it was too far in the future. Wuille disagreed, stating that he believed it was highly unlikely that they would break the block header format and invalidate all mining hardware. He also stated that adding further information to the beginning of a block should be possible without making major changes to the mining hardware. Wuille went on to say that there was no need for more than 32 bits of precision in the block header timestamp, and that even 16 bits could suffice assuming there was never more than an 18-hour gap between two blocks. However, he expressed discomfort with the "after-the-fact" auditing that would be possible in this scenario. The timestamping provided by the block headers is useful in some payment protocols and in general. The discussion ended with a PGP signature.
Updated on: 2023-06-06T16:27:19.387772+00:00