The growth in bitcoin transaction volumes shows no sign of abating, and yet the 1MB block data limit is no closer to being raised than it was six months ago. Whether and how it is raised (via hard fork or changes to Bitcoin Core) will have lasting repercussions, and changing one of bitcoin's fundamental rules will have unintended, unpredicted and perhaps negative consequences.
One of bitcoin's earliest contributors has now written off bitcoin as a failed experiment.
So it helps to remember that the important question this year is not necessarily how bitcoin is scaled, but whether it is allowed to scale without a dogfight.
There are currently only four ways to scale bitcoin today: via lightning networks, via sidechains, via off-blockchain transactions batched by third parties (eg: Coinbase), or by increasing the block-size.
Lightning networks and sidechains aren't yet ready for prime time, and most technologists would agree that increasing the clout of third-party transaction processors goes against bitcoin's intended design. No offense to the segregated witness enthusiasts, but that doesn’t sound like a true scaling solution either – more like an optimization.
This means that by mid-2016, we'll either see a stop-gap resolution to increase the block-size, a hard fork, or a spike in bitcoin transaction fees for smaller transactions. All have their associated risks.
So here’s my question: will the Bitcoin Core block-size limit increase or remain at 1MB?
One of bitcoin's earliest contributors has now written off bitcoin as a failed experiment.
So it helps to remember that the important question this year is not necessarily how bitcoin is scaled, but whether it is allowed to scale without a dogfight.
There are currently only four ways to scale bitcoin today: via lightning networks, via sidechains, via off-blockchain transactions batched by third parties (eg: Coinbase), or by increasing the block-size.
Lightning networks and sidechains aren't yet ready for prime time, and most technologists would agree that increasing the clout of third-party transaction processors goes against bitcoin's intended design. No offense to the segregated witness enthusiasts, but that doesn’t sound like a true scaling solution either – more like an optimization.
This means that by mid-2016, we'll either see a stop-gap resolution to increase the block-size, a hard fork, or a spike in bitcoin transaction fees for smaller transactions. All have their associated risks.
So here’s my question: will the Bitcoin Core block-size limit increase or remain at 1MB?
CC end-game will look like nothing we have today, I suggest you re-read the original NSA 1996 white-paper on BITCOIN to get a clear view of the desired outcome of this project.
http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/articles/money/nsamint/nsamint.htm
Take a hard look at the current BTC ( satoshi 2009 ) and the original, mostly whats missing is 'REAL-ID',
Scalability will be solved by the +2,000 alt-coins one of them will win, IMHO I would watch closely what Microsoft & Google release for this problem,
BTC will become a legacy bank for the rich, and not be used by poor ppl, even in CHINA today BTC is called the "Currency of the Gods"
