Published on: 2015-11-02T05:06:36+00:00
The discussion on a Bitcoin forum revolves around a proposed Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP 113) that is causing controversy. The current consensus rule states that a transaction can only be included in a block if its locktime is smaller than the timestamp of the block. However, BIP 113 proposes a new rule whereby the transaction can only be included if its locktime is smaller than the median-time-past, which is the median timestamp of the past 11 blocks. Since it is already a consensus rule that the timestamp of a block must be greater than the median-time-past, this new rule makes previously invalid transactions valid, constituting a hardfork.Bitcoin Core recently merged #6566, which added BIP 113 logic to the mempool and block creation process. However, there are concerns that this may result in invalid blocks. To address this issue, Rusty suggested adding N hours to the median-time-past for comparison and max()'d with the block nTime to ensure a proper hardfork. Alternatively, it is suggested to hold off on deploying BIP 113 until a hardfork is implemented in the future.In conclusion, there are concerns about the implementation of BIP 113 as it introduces a new consensus rule and constitutes a hardfork. Bitcoin Core has already merged this logic, but there is a possibility of producing invalid blocks. Further discussion and input are required before a solution can be determined.
Updated on: 2023-08-01T16:47:53.240301+00:00