Author: Patrick Sharp 2017-09-26 01:33:25
Published on: 2017-09-26T01:33:25+00:00
The author, Patrick Sharp, proposed the implementation of trimming and demurrage in Bitcoin. While acknowledging that demurrage is currently prohibited, he argues that without some sort of limit on the maximum length or size of the blockchain, it becomes unsustainable in the long run and more centralized as it becomes unwieldy. Trimming old blocks whose transactions are now spent holds no real value and takes up real-world space that incurs cost. To combat this, Sharp proposed limiting the blockchain length to either 2^18 blocks (slightly less than five years) or 2^19 blocks (slightly less than ten years). Each time a block is mined, the oldest block(s) beyond this limit would be trimmed from the chain, and its unspent transactions would be allowed to be included in the reward of the mined block. Sharp also suggested that users be required to move their bitcoins at least once every five to ten years, assuming anyone with access to their bitcoins has the power to move them from one address to another, or at least the software that holds the keys to their coins can do it for them. He believes that any bitcoin not moved is likely lost, and moving these coins will contribute a small transaction fee. This proposal aims to keep the blockchain from tending towards infinity and balance the costs of miners with the costs of users.In response to Sharp's proposal, ZmnSCPxj argued that demurrage is impossible in Bitcoin due to the implementation of OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY, which requires that a certain block height or date has passed before an output can be spent. It can be used to make an "in trust for" address, where spending of that address is disallowed. If demurrage were implemented, it would require a hardfork that ignores OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY. ZmnSCPxj suggests putting such additional features as demurrage in a sidechain rather than on the mainchain.
Updated on: 2023-06-12T19:04:40.450429+00:00