Author: Thy Shizzle 2015-05-26 02:51:00
Published on: 2015-05-26T02:51:00+00:00
In a discussion among Bitcoin developers, Thy Shizzle suggested that rather than making blocks 20MB in size, it would be better to decrease the time it takes to make a 1MB block. This way, propagation times today could remain the same while increasing transaction throughput. However, Gabe Appleton responded by saying that there would still be a trade-off between the two options. For instance, 20MB blocks would result in longer per-block propagation, longer processing time, and longer sync time, while 1-minute blocks would result in weaker individual confirmations, higher orphan rate, and longer sync time. Jim Phillips added to the discussion by pointing out that the Bitcoin network was regularly bumping up against its 100% limit, and it was time to take action to expand capacity. He suggested that since most existing computer systems and networks can easily handle 20MB blocks every 10 minutes, there was no reason why the network couldn't go to 20MB as soon as possible. In a few years, when the average block size is over 15MB, it can be bumped up again to as high as possible without pushing typical computers or networks beyond their capacity. Miners could configure their nodes to only mine transactions with higher fees if they needed higher fees to accommodate the costs of bigger blocks.
Updated on: 2023-06-09T21:05:02.669938+00:00