Bitcoin Unlimited adoption could lead to centralization of the Bitcoin network

The crux of Bitcoin Unlimited is that the decision-making power is moving towards participants with greater economic weight, including who can gain more benefits, which invisibly increases the cost of participating in the Bitcoin network.

Ever since Bitcoin Unlimited gained traction, there has been a lot of debate about this solution. If all nodes choose their own block size, it might be "interesting" in the future. In fact, this solution will create a series of new problems that need to be solved in the future. Therefore, some people even began to speculate that Bitcoin Unlimited may lead to centralization in the future.

There are many different opinions on whether Bitcoin Unlimited should be implemented or not. Because there is no "fixed block size solution" that can satisfy everyone, a variable approach seems to be recognized by everyone. However, in this solution, each node is given "economic weight", which causes many problems.

The Problem with Bitcoin Unlimited

If Bitcoin Unlimited is implemented, miners will be able to choose their block size, and some special nodes may choose to mine oversized blocks regardless of other nodes. In contrast, overly small blocks may be "forced to leave the network" because they can no longer follow the longest chain of blocks. After applying this method to expand, increasing the block size is one thing, but you will find that the challenges faced in the future will be far greater than before after the fair position is broken.

Nebulous Inc CEO David Vorick explained:

“The problem with Bitcoin Unlimited is that the decision-making power is shifting to participants with greater economic power, including who can get more benefits, which invisibly increases the cost of participating in the Bitcoin network. Participants with greater economic power can use this to increase the cost of participating in the Bitcoin network and suppress economically disadvantaged groups, so that they can gain more benefits. This is a serious centralization problem, which is a disaster for any cryptocurrency that aims to be decentralized.”

According to his thinking, it seems to make sense. Over time, centralized participants will slowly control Bitcoin. This is not a positive development in any way. Participants with strong economic power will squeeze or even cut off the living space of weak participants. When they get full authority to decide the block size, centralization will inevitably occur.

Bitcoin Unlimited's proposal has its pros and cons, and whether it will be accepted or not is ultimately decided by the market. The decentralized nature of Bitcoin has always been the main attraction of Bitcoin. Now there is a way to create different blockchain sizes - forking Bitcoin, but it turns out that this may not be the best way.

However, competition in the development space is a good thing. The collision of different ideas can lead to a solution that works for everyone. Using the power of the free market to end this discussion may be the best course of action for all of us. Today, it is worrying that decentralization and Bitcoin Unlimited do not necessarily go hand in hand.