Topic: Could the need of Bitcoin being more divisible lead to a hard fork? - page 3. (Read 518 times)
December 25, 2022, 07:02:21 PM
I don't think there is a need for a hard fork. And I don't think the smallest unit of Bitcoin is the Satoshi. An amount of Bitcoin could actually go smaller than that. The lightning network sometimes even uses millisatoshi or millisat or msat. If Satoshi has 8 decimal points, the millisatoshi has 11 decimal points. So it goes like 0.00000000001. That's 1.7e-7 in USD, way smaller than a cent. So I think there isn't a problem with Bitcoin's divisibility at all even if 1 Bitcoin goes up to a million USD.
December 25, 2022, 06:46:14 PM
But will that be a hard fork or a soft fork?
Since we have to change the consensus rules for that and it's required that all the nodes accept the new rule, it would be a hard fork.I thought anything that does not lead to creation of another coin is just a soft fork, I mean pertaining to this? Or will bitcoin blockchain be abandoned for a new one because of this?
Any upgrade that is not backward-compatible is a hard fork. As I already said, for increasing decimal places, we have to change the consensus rules. Nodes are free to not accept the new rules and have a separate chain. So, it would be a hard fork.
December 25, 2022, 06:08:56 PM
I understand that one satoshi is very small and for one satoshi to reach $1 a single Bitcoin should be worth over $100 million, but what if that really happens in 30 years or more? If Bitcoin succeds in the long term, this is plausible.
The bitcoin in the transactions on Bitcoin's timechain (aka blockchain) is in satoshis. If you inspect a block, you will find out that all value transfers are measured in satoshis. Currently, there is no way to own a fraction of a Satoshi. It is not possible to own a fraction of satoshi on Bitcoin layer 1 right now because other nodes of the network will reject any transaction that do not comply with the protocol standards (which is to measure value in satoshis). So, if you try to do some fancy thing to own a fraction of a satoshi, it will be reject by the network participants. It seems to me that if one day we need to own a fraction of a satoshi, this could only be done through a hard fork... this is not something we have to worry for the next years, but could be a problem in some decades. This concerns me
The bitcoin in the transactions on Bitcoin's timechain (aka blockchain) is in satoshis. If you inspect a block, you will find out that all value transfers are measured in satoshis. Currently, there is no way to own a fraction of a Satoshi. It is not possible to own a fraction of satoshi on Bitcoin layer 1 right now because other nodes of the network will reject any transaction that do not comply with the protocol standards (which is to measure value in satoshis). So, if you try to do some fancy thing to own a fraction of a satoshi, it will be reject by the network participants. It seems to me that if one day we need to own a fraction of a satoshi, this could only be done through a hard fork... this is not something we have to worry for the next years, but could be a problem in some decades. This concerns me
December 25, 2022, 06:06:32 PM
For adding more decimal places, we have to change the consensus rules and a hard fork would be required.
According to consensus rules, the amount field in a bitcoin transaction must be an integer between 0 and 2100000000000000 and we can't send 0.1 satoshi or 0.01 satoshi.
But will that be a hard fork or a soft fork? Just want to be clear about it. I thought anything that does not lead to creation of another coin is just a soft fork, I mean pertaining to this? Or will bitcoin blockchain be abandoned for a new one because of this? According to consensus rules, the amount field in a bitcoin transaction must be an integer between 0 and 2100000000000000 and we can't send 0.1 satoshi or 0.01 satoshi.
December 25, 2022, 05:58:56 PM
Would such need to use smaller denomination units (smaller than satoshi) require a hard fork? Can someone shed some light into it?
Yes.For adding more decimal places, we have to change the consensus rules and a hard fork would be required.
According to consensus rules, the amount field in a bitcoin transaction must be an integer between 0 and 2100000000000000 and we can't send 0.1 satoshi or 0.01 satoshi.
December 25, 2022, 05:26:34 PM
One satoshi is a very small unit. If bitcoin is worth $100 million, 1 sat would be just $1. Bitcoin price is $16800 presently, but with all-time-high of $69000. That is not close to $100 million at all.
December 25, 2022, 05:03:48 PM
One satoshi is 0.00000001 BTC, wich means that is already quite small. In any case, the change of that would mean that there need to be consensus with more than 50% of the nodes as far as I know. But there could be other solutions where you could just own parts of a satoshi, like you can now own part of a stock.
December 25, 2022, 04:53:36 PM
Imagine the following scenario (that could possibly occur in decades):
Bitcoin becomes widely adopted, its marketcap surpass the dollar's, and it become so valuable that even a single satoshi is worth more than, for example, a couple of pens, a bottle of water, etc.
In that case, payments for small amounts wouldn't be possible even with second layer solutions such as LN, because even a single satoshi would be more valuable than the price of the product. There would be a need for Bitcoin to be more divisible, for it to be broken down into even smaller parts.
Would such need to use smaller denomination units (smaller than satoshi) require a hard fork? Can someone shed some light into it?
Bitcoin becomes widely adopted, its marketcap surpass the dollar's, and it become so valuable that even a single satoshi is worth more than, for example, a couple of pens, a bottle of water, etc.
In that case, payments for small amounts wouldn't be possible even with second layer solutions such as LN, because even a single satoshi would be more valuable than the price of the product. There would be a need for Bitcoin to be more divisible, for it to be broken down into even smaller parts.
Would such need to use smaller denomination units (smaller than satoshi) require a hard fork? Can someone shed some light into it?
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