BW Yao Yuan: The plan is complex and although it seems to take a long time, we need to give the core time

Blockchain expansion is undoubtedly the most controversial and most watched topic in the community. At the expansion meeting of Hong Kong Cyberport on February 20, multiple parties coordinated and signed a consensus agreement. After that, some supported, some questioned, and some opposed. We interviewed several mining, exchange, individual or industry representatives who personally experienced the meeting to see what they thought of the results reached this time, how they view the doubts that followed, and what actions they will take next. BW CTO Yao Yuan, as one of the signatories of the consensus, expressed his views in this article.

8btc: What do you think of the results of this Hong Kong meeting?

Yao Yuan: After personally participating in the meeting, I personally feel that the consensus reached at the Hong Kong meeting was hard-won, and all parties reached the consensus with great effort and caution. The result is a very positive response to capacity expansion.

8btc: Is it possible for several major domestic mining pools and mining machine companies to unite and jointly train some Bitcoin developers to enhance the voice of Chinese people in the community?

Yao Yuan: There is a discussion on this issue. The current situation is that there are still very few Bitcoin core developers in the community. The reason is determined by the Chinese market environment. For powerful mining pools, mining machine companies, etc., it is recommended to cultivate and reserve talents in this area, first for the development of their own company's business; second, when community issues need to be handled collaboratively, they can communicate faster and solve problems.

8btc: The consensus reached this time is the result of compromise among many parties. Many people think that the July 2017 date for the implementation of this proposal is too late. What do you think? From a technical point of view, do you agree with this proposal?

Yao Yuan: It is better to say balance than compromise. It was very hard to reach a consensus at this meeting. Both sides were very cautious. No one gave in too much on the issue of position. I don’t think this is a compromise to reach a consensus among multiple parties, but a multi-party balance plus understanding will accept the plan. The proposal was implemented in July 2017. Segwit soft expansion first and then hard fork is undoubtedly a more appropriate path.

Although it seems like it will take a little longer, the core team also has a lot of work to do and they need to be given time.

8btc: At present, there are still many people who question the consensus, such as Coinbase CEO's comments that it was too small and too late; many people in the foreign community questioned Adam's identity in signing the agreement; and a considerable number of miners believe that block expansion is urgent and they do not want to be represented. How do you view these doubts and oppositions?

Yao Yuan: Core's capabilities should be recognized by everyone, and it is more appropriate for them to implement the expansion plan. There were many doubts about Adam's identity before, which was unnecessary. Consensus is not just about Adam alone.更多考虑技术方案本身而不是政治. Originally, Bitcoin core developers participated in the work independently based on the consensus mechanism. The consensus already includes a hard fork. Coinbase CEO thinks it is too small and too late, which is just Coinbase's personal opinion. Using segwit first is always easier to accept than a direct hard fork, and it can also solve some of Bitcoin's original problems.

8btc: Do you think the results of this expansion meeting have enough support in the entire community?

Yao Yuan: This expansion should have a lot of support from the entire community. I believe there will be enough power to solve the expansion problem.

8btc: After the consensus was reached, was there any impact on BW? What will BW do next?

Yao Yuan: After the consensus is reached, there will be no impact on BW. We will continue to work according to the consensus. BW will continue to do its existing work and continue to participate in the follow-up work of community expansion. At the same time, we also hope that the core and classic teams will communicate more and look forward to more good results. After all, everyone has a good intention for Bitcoin.

At the same time, BW responded to the proposal by Core and Bitfury at the meeting that mining pools should not produce empty blocks. In fact, BW had called on various mining pools in 2015 and advocated that mining pools should not produce empty blocks (BW CEO Zhai Wenjie called on the industry mining pools to stop producing empty blocks on June 9, 2015, as evidenced by the screenshot of his Weibo post).

Packaging transactions in blocks is beneficial to the Bitcoin system, and preventing empty blocks is also positive for capacity expansion, although it may increase the orphan block rate. BW can discuss and solve this problem with other mining pools in the community.