Should We Raise the Bitcoin Block Size Limit?
Over the past several days, the debate over increasing the Bitcoin block size limit has been rekindled. Gavin Andresen, the most prominent Core developer, restarted the debate in a blog post announcing his intention to respond to each substantial argument that opposed raising the limit. Staying true to his word, Andresen proceeded to publish a slew of posts addressing several different arguments against raising the limit. This series of articles sparked yet another community-wide discussion on the block size limit, spanning Reddit, Bitcointalk, Twitter, and Core developer email lists. The....
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Fresh out of jail on bail for embezzlement, disgraced Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles poked fun at the Bitcoin community’s for their lack of resolution in the block size limit issue. Karpeles, in a tweet sent shortly after his release from jail, expressed his detachment from and disdain for the current state of Bitcoin, including a jab at the persisting one-megabyte block size limit debate: Block size limit still an issue, though drama has died down. The issue of whether or not to raise Bitcoin’s block size limit is a contentious one, responsible for a “splinter subreddit,” /r/btc, to emerge....
This week, bitcoin Jesus Roger Ver weighed in on the block size debate stating that the block size limit should be increased if it is technologically achievable. Specifically, Ver tweeted: The block size debate has been underway for some time now and a lot of developers including Bitcoin Core Developers and the Bitcoin community are getting exasperated with the current impasse. In addition, many developers are now spending a lot of time and money seeking alternative solutions. If every 1MB block were always full, it would take over 55 years to fill my new HD. Let's raise the block size....
Three of the biggest Western mining pools – representing a total of some 19% of hashing power on the Bitcoin network – stand divided on raising the block size limit. An inquiry by CoinTelegraph has shown that both KnCMiner and Slush Pool are in favor of Gavin Andresen's proposal(s) to raise this limit. But the biggest of the three, BitFury, is more conservative. As such, a network-wide switch to Bitcoin XT to allow for bigger blocks seems even more unlikely, for now. Lacking consensus among Core developers on how and when to raise the block size limit, former lead developer Gavin Andresen....
Bitcoin Core developer Jeff Garzik has submitted a proposal to raise the block size limit from 1MB to 2MB. The proposal is intended to buy more time to reach a consensus on a more durable solution before the maximum amount of transactions on the Bitcoin network is reached. As the debate on a possible raise of the block size limit has been raging for months – years even – without consensus on a durable solution within sight, Garzik has proposed to adapt a temporary solution. This new Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP), named BIP 102, holds that the Bitcoin block size limit be doubled on....
BTCC COO Samson Mow: Without Consensus on Block-size Limit, Stakeholders Might Implement an Increase
BTCC Chief Operating Officer Samson Mow indicated that the leading Chinese mining pool and exchange supports an incremental increase of Bitcoin's block-size limit to 8 megabytes in order to buy time for alternative solutions to be developed. Moreover, Mow believes the Bitcoin industry might opt to raise Bitcoin's block-size limit even if no consensus is found among the Bitcoin Core development community. "If there is no consensus soon, I could see a situation where stakeholders make a decision to implement a small increase," Mow said. "Without bigger blocks, a fee market will develop,....