Author: Jorge Timón 2015-09-30 15:55:52
Published on: 2015-09-30T15:55:52+00:00
In an email conversation between Jorge Timón and Mike Hearn, the two discussed the differences between softforks and hardforks in relation to upgrading miners. Jorge argues that the amount of money lost by miners is identical in both cases, so there is no difference in how fast they will upgrade. In a softfork, minority hashrate will always build on top of the longest chain, while alternative chains built by non-upgraded miners will be ignored. However, in a hardfork, non-upgraded miners will reject the upgraded chain and build on top of the longest non-upgraded chains, resulting in two alternative chains growing forever unless non-upgraded miners eventually upgrade. Mike argues that there is no difference in how fast miners upgrade, and suggests that a hardfork may promote faster upgrades because it is easily detectable. The conversation also touches on BIP99's recommendation for uncontroversial softforks and Mike's belief that the rollout strategy is bad.
Updated on: 2023-06-10T23:19:08.741116+00:00