Bitcoin scaling issue takes a new turn, RSK test network Ginger will be officially released on May 22

The Bitcoin scaling issue will take a new turn with the release of the RSK test network Ginger on May 22.

Ginger will be the first mainnet version of the RSK platform and the only production-grade network that provides democratic open access.

RSK Labs, the creator of Rootstock, is a smart contract platform with a two-way peg and pooled mining to the Bitcoin blockchain.

When operational, RSK is expected to be able to perform 100 transactions per second for instant payments without the need for SegWit to be activated on the Bitcoin network. RSK is also expected to be able to do most or all of what Ethereum can do — and up to 6 times faster — because RSK is fully compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). It is not yet clear what the results will be when RSK is integrated with the Bitcoin network.

A lasting solution?

The discussion on Bitcoin scaling has intensified recently as many in the Bitcoin community have called for a long-term solution to the block size issue. While RSK is considered a short-term fix, Rootstock co-founder Gabriel Kurman said RSK could represent a long-term solution to Bitcoin's scaling problem.

Kurman said:

“SegWit and the 2MB block increase are short-term solutions to the current scaling and fee issues. But in the long run, if we want the Bitcoin network to serve billions of people, we need to scale it through drivechains, such as RSK.”

The overall purpose of the Bitcoin Network Smart Contract Platform is to use Bitcoin as the native currency and connect its blockchain to the Bitcoin blockchain, thereby enabling easy conversion between Bitcoin and SmartBTC based on a two-way peg.

Long-term expansion

“RSK will allow the Bitcoin network to process 100 transactions per second (compared to SegWit’s 7). But with Lumino Transaction Compression Protocol (LTCP), RSK will be able to process 2,000 transactions per second on-chain! Once Lumino is deployed to RSK, it will enable the Bitcoin network to process up to 20,000 transactions per second off-chain, Visa-level transactions. This is long-term scaling for Bitcoin.”

However, the fact that RSK does not require SegWit to function does not mean that SegWit is useless, especially since RSK is still far from a full rollout. He added:

“SegWit is still needed to solve the scalability problem. However, RSK can run with or without SegWit. RSK is still a few months away from entering production and fully mixed mining, so if SegWit can be activated and the block size can be increased before then, it will be a very good choice.”

As for whether miners have an opinion on the operation of RSK, Kurman said that the improvement of RSK as open source is a hint to miners, and miners will be the ones to receive future updates and new features.

If the RSK team succeeds in delivering on their promise of a massive number of transactions per second, it would be a huge boost to Bitcoin’s value and price.