Author: Peter Todd 2015-09-28 14:43:18
Published on: 2015-09-28T14:43:18+00:00
In an email exchange between two Bitcoin developers, Mike Hearn and Peter Todd, the topic of SPV (simplified payment verification) wallets and their ability to detect hard forks was discussed. According to Todd, SPV wallets do not need to detect hard forks because they pick the highest work chain, meaning any miner who has not upgraded makes blocks on a shorter chain that are then ignored. After the fork point, there should not be any blocks in the main chain that violate the rules or end up being orphaned. Hearn questions why soft forks would be an issue if this is the case, as they make it less likely that a long invalid chain will be generated, making it harder for an attacker to trick an SPV wallet into accepting a transaction. The discussion ends with Todd asking what scenario could make soft forks worse than hard forks from an SPV wallet's perspective.
Updated on: 2023-06-10T23:09:44.592566+00:00