Why Bitcoin's Block Size Debate is a Proxy War
Let’s start by agreeing on something: Bitcoin is a genius innovation that regulates both an economy and the technology that governs it. This technology is also decentralized, and that makes the risk of a human screw up affecting the network much less likely. But bitcoin is far from bulletproof. Right now, bitcoin developers are engaged in a battle over a change in the code that, if implemented and accepted into the network, would increase the data capacity of transaction blocks on the blockchain. Maybe it’s not a trivial modification, but it’s still a coding discussion. But should we....
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As much as most people would like to think otherwise, the Bitcoin block size debate is far from over. Various new proposals have been suggested in the past, and another interesting concept was posted on Reddit earlier today. According to this user, a small block size increase should be done first, followed by the integration of Segregated Witness. Addressing the key issue as soon as possible should be the top priority for all Bitcoin developers. Based on the findings of the Reddit in question, Segregated Witness should not be the first and foremost solution to settling the Bitcoin block....
There seems to be no end in sight for the block size debate as the Bitcoin community continues to go around in circles trying to drive the same set of points home... The Bitcoin block size debate rages on. It has been almost a year since we started hearing the Bitcoin community fiercely contesting about whether to increase the bitcoin block size from the existing 1 MB or not. Both the sides have so far come up with some valid arguments, of which few are very convincing towards both the causes. Recently the “Jesus of Bitcoin”, Roger Ver wrote an article about why the Bitcoin block size....
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....
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but sometimes people say things that just don't make sense. Jon Matonis had such a moment this morning on Twitter. Here he goes, before much more is written here: This might be how we know that the block size debate is getting out of control when people have the opportunity to make such presumptuous statements as that. At no time has any prominent proponent of increasing the block size spoken of increasing the block reward or removing the 21 million coin limit. Bitcoin Core development is not a central bank, and, as at least one person told Matonis on....
Bitcoin does not need to scale. While Satoshi Nakamoto might have arbitrarily designed a 1MB block size into the Bitcoin protocol with little explanation, many industry people forget that, just because that amount was arbitrary, does not mean the protocol must scale now or ever. The people who feel this way – in what essentially represents a conservative approach to the debate – have been shunned completely in the discussion known as the Bitcoin block size debate. Not scaling is not an option. This is a great error as it obfuscates the real debate at hand. The reality is many Bitcoiners....