The Great Bitcoin Divide: On Dwindling Block Space

Bitcoin’s communities stand divided regarding the way the network should handle transaction volume. Free space in published blocks continues to decrease as more people use the network while block size limitations remain the same. CoinJournal provides a visual representation of the progression of Bitcoin’s unused block space.



The Bitcoin Core segment holds that smaller block size limits should be should be hard-coded into each block by default. The Bitcoin Unlimited segment believes that block size should be controlled by the network to allow greater transaction throughput and reduce the latency of transaction finalization.

The laissez-faire economy generated by the Bitcoin Unlimited protocol would add significantly to the capability of the network to handle transactions by implementing a GUI for users to set the maximum block size they are willing to accept. Bitcoin Core’s solution, SegWit lays the foundation to implement the Lightning Network.

Implementing the Lightning Network will allow users to execute peer-to-peer transaction processing off of the main chain, only publishing the opening and close of a state-channel when two parties reach consensus.

According to The Merkle, Bitcoin Unlimited supporters are afraid that Bitcoin Core will hard-code the maximum block size to 1MB and fees will rise significantly in turn. CryptoCoinsNews reported that many of the major Bitcoin exchanges have signed a letter of intent to support both coins in the event of a currency split.

news.Bitcoin.com Reassures users that even if the currency does split, users who own the private keys to their Bitcoin will be unaffected. If their currency lies in an exchange, then the exchange will decide how to allocate the assets.



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