Segregated verification code review is coming to an end, Bitcoin may solve the problem of expansion

Late last month, a group of contributors to the open-source Bitcoin Core development project gathered in Zurich, Switzerland, and reviewed the code for Segregated Witness, a proposal to scale the bitcoin network.

The gathering in Zurich, which attracted about 20 Core developers, was significant given that Segregated Witness will have a significant impact on the trajectory of the Bitcoin network in the coming months and years.

Discussions about segregated verification date back to mid-2015, and developers have been discussing the issue of scaling the Bitcoin network for more than a few years.

Of course, the process of integrating Segwit is not without danger. Bitcoin Core contributors can be seen as the guardians of the roughly $9 billion bitcoin. Since the code that runs the bitcoin network is currently published by the Bitcoin Core development team, a bad version could cause trouble for users and even jeopardize the security of their funds.

That’s not to say that those involved in the project, particularly the SegWit scheme, haven’t considered these issues.

In an interview, Core contributor Eric Lombrozo said the process of integrating Segwit into Bitcoin Core “is high risk.”

He told reporters:

"It's a difficult challenge to do it without causing damage to the network. A very difficult challenge."

Discussion in Zurich

According to Lombrozo, the group wanted to avoid making any specific decisions during the in-person meetings, including on segwit and broader development issues, and instead opted to leave the decision-making process to the community’s mailing lists and chatroom meetings because it is public.

This point was highlighted by core contributor Jonas Schnelli.

“Don’t rush into making code-level decisions,” Schnelli said. “We’re able to sit down together and try to work together as a team, and that’s the value.”

This view may also be a response to past criticisms of Core’s centralization, which in part led to the creation of alternative versions such as Bitcoin XT and later Bitcoin Classic.

During the conversation, Lombrozo argued that he believed the team could succeed beyond expectations.

He continued:

“This narrative has been growing over the past year, while progress on the technical side has stagnated. Partly because of stagnant prices… but mostly because of a huge misunderstanding on the part of the community about what Core actually does and what Core can do.”

Code Review

In recent months, community volunteers have sought to reorient the development of SegWit and make the communication process more inclusive.

According to Core contributor Bryan Bishop, the in-person review in Zurich provided a chance for programmers to focus on their work and dig deeper into the code itself.

He told CoinDesk:

“Once everyone is confident that the outstanding issues have been resolved, they can move on to other parts of the proposed change and continue the review process. Everyone has different standards for how to thoroughly review each part of the Segwit code, and the combination of multiple people means more reports on various aspects of the proposed change.”

In this regard, he said that the extension work of this meeting has been carried out on the Core team’s online communication channels, including the open source chat protocol IRC and the Bitcoin development mailing list.

Bishop further noted that the team has identified several minor issues with the existing code.

“The code review of SegWit went pretty well at the meetup. I believe we found and fixed a couple of trivial bugs,” he said.

Moving Forward

Now, those working on the project say they are finalizing the code for SegWit, though they still haven’t given a specific timeline for its rollout.

“I think we’re getting close to the right point to launch,” Lombrozo said. “It’s probably still a little bit of testing right now, or it’s better to have more people running it, just to make sure we have more people who can give us feedback.”

At the same time, he also said that those who contributed to the upgrade “want to merge segwit as soon as possible,” Lombrozo said.

“Users are demanding a lot from us... I think we’re going to deliver better than people thought not long ago,” he added.

Upgrading a distributed network of computers around the world is no small task, and the next steps will not only pave the way for Core developers, but will also be key to the future of the Bitcoin network itself.

Granted, there are dissenting voices in the Bitcoin community who may not agree with this approach, but as Segwit gets closer to launch, all eyes of the community will be on the Core team.