“New York Consensus” may be Bitcoin’s last chance

On May 23, 2017, 56 well-known blockchain startups from 21 countries around the world jointly signed the New York Consensus (Isolated Verification + 2M). The New York Consensus has received support from 83.28% of the computing power of the entire network, and exchanges with a total transaction volume of more than US$5.1 billion per month and more than 20 million Bitcoin wallets have agreed to implement the consensus plan. This plan is exactly the same as the Hong Kong Consensus signed in February 2016. The only difference is that the New York Consensus has received more widespread support from the community, while the Hong Kong Consensus is just a compromise between Bitcoin developers and miners, and later it died because of the developers' regrets.

The New York Consensus was hard-won

The New York Consensus was hard-won and is the result of the joint efforts of the entire Bitcoin community. The Bitcoin expansion dispute has evolved from a technical debate to a dispute over the Bitcoin development roadmap. Miners and developers have gradually become enemies. Developers have an advantage in Bitcoin development, but miners can decide whether to use and maintain the client. Developers hate the noncompliance of miners and the community, while miners are tired of the arrogance and arrogance of developers. The three-year expansion dispute has made the entire community a mess. The Hong Kong Consensus, which the community has worked hard to promote, has also failed due to the Core development team's regret. Watching other competing coins continue to grow, Bitcoin's decline has become more and more serious, and the problem of Bitcoin transaction congestion cannot be solved in a timely manner. People in the community are all heartbroken to see this situation. Finally, after Barry Silbert's appeals, the supporters of the expansion dispute came together. For the long-term development of Bitcoin, everyone put aside their past grudges, reached an understanding, and jointly signed the New York Consensus. The Bitcoin expansion dispute has come to an end for the time being, which will also have a profound positive impact on the future development of Bitcoin.

Beware of undermining the New York Consensus

The signing of the New York Consensus meets the interests of all parties involved in the soft fork and the hard fork. It is the best solution to solve the congestion problem of Bitcoin transactions and social problems. The signing of the New York Consensus has made the entire community excited and confident, which is reflected in the price level, with the price of Bitcoin skyrocketing, breaking through the 20,000 yuan mark. However, some developers are still working hard to undermine the New York Consensus, refusing to recognize the New York Consensus, and maliciously distorting and destroying the New York Consensus. It is not worth believing to accuse the development team that supports the New York Consensus of being inexperienced and unreliable, and attacking Bitcoin core developer Jeff Garzik for seemingly being a technical leader but not making any contribution to Bitcoin development. (Jeff Garzik and Gavin Andresen are both core members of the core development team, and were driven away for supporting hard forks). It is advocating that the Core development team is irreplaceable and is the best Bitcoin development team, and the solution it develops is the best solution. The technical strength of the Core development team is obvious to all, but the high IQ and low EQ have made the community tired, and it is completely a rogue behavior to use technical advantages to hijack the entire Bitcoin community.

UASF is a conspiracy

The New York Consensus points the way for Bitcoin to expand. Segregated verification will be activated before September. After segregated verification is activated, a hard fork will be executed within 12 months to increase the block size to 2MB. This is a victory for the entire Bitcoin community, but some developers who are unwilling to fail have once again brought up the old matter and publicly supported and advocated BIP148 UASF (user activated soft fork). On August 1, segregated verification will be activated in the form of UASF, and even this day is advocated as "Bitcoin Independence Day". The purpose is to create an illusion of economic majority decision-making, bring miners into the opposite side of the community, and undermine the implementation of the New York Consensus. However, there is no broad consensus on UASF (user activated soft fork), and the number of people supporting it is very small, less than 10% of the entire network. User activated soft fork has been proven to be unworkable on Litecoin. There is no basic reliable code, and there is no specific measurement standard for the so-called economic majority. Developer Greg Slepak said that "the whole idea of ​​BIP 148 is stupid because of the lack of replay protection."

Splitting Bitcoin

If the New York Consensus is delayed for some reason, such as the obstruction of the core development team, the community's opinions are not unified, the technology development is not timely, etc. The UASF (User Activated Soft Fork) supported by the Core Development Team does not need the support of the majority of miners to activate the isolated verification. Once it fails to obtain the support of the majority of miners, it will inevitably split the Bitcoin blockchain. At that time, Bitcoin will be split into I48 and Bitcoin. Even to prevent long chain attacks, the Bitcoin algorithm has been modified.

It is reported that the New York Consensus Agreement is based on the Segwit-2MB solution proposed by Sergio Demian Lerner, chief scientist of Rootchain (RSK). In addition, Hilbert claimed that 56 companies and 84% of the computing power of the entire network have supported this solution. The Segwit2x working group will be responsible for implementing the Bitcoin New York Consensus code. Jeff Garzik, a Bitcoin core developer, participated in it and contributed most of the code. The code of the solution has been published on Github for reference. The community is advancing the implementation of the New York Consensus step by step, and anyone who hinders the implementation of the New York Consensus will become a historical sinner.

The New York Consensus has become the last chance for Bitcoin not to split. Whether you are an investor, miner, speculator, merchant, mining pool, trading platform or ordinary user, I hope everyone will always be vigilant, resolutely resist users activating soft forks, resist splitting Bitcoin, resist undermining the New York Consensus, and make a little contribution to the long-term development of Bitcoin.