Coinbase CEO: Bitcoin Roundtable consensus proposal is too little, too late

First of all, I think the core development team members and Samson Mow (the organizer of this consensus meeting) are all industry leaders who care about the development of Bitcoin from the bottom of their hearts. It is really not easy to mobilize so many people to gather together to achieve something (part of the reason here is that the protocol development team did not act in a timely manner). Although I did not attend the meeting, I read the plan content. Unfortunately, I think this meeting did not get to the point.

Here are the reasons:

1. Prioritizing Segregated Witness before Scaling is a Mistake

Although Segregated Witness has many advantages, it is not a suitable solution to Bitcoin’s scalability problem, and the solution to the scalability problem is imminent.

My understanding is that the core development team believes that Segregated Witness contains the elements necessary for a successful hard fork (blocking the corresponding attack vectors). However, I believe that the Classic code already contains protections in this regard, as described by Gavin in the updated 2 trillion plan at the time of this post;

2. Another expansion in July 2017? Too far away

If, as the plan drafted, SegWit provides a slightly less than doubling of capacity in April 2016 (which I think would add unnecessary difficulty in the process), then a hard increase will be implemented 15 months later (in July 2017); if Bitcoin daily transactions more than double every year as in previous years, then we will be in a worse situation by the middle of next year, which seems to be a big loophole in SegWit.

3. There is a better solution

Words and actions are always very different. The consensus agreement is currently just a piece of paper, and whether it will be supported is still a question. At the same time, the BitcoinClassic team has taken action and released a practical code solution.

Classic's solution has been shown to two former core developers (including the previous project leader), so I think it should be a very strong solution.

If the core developers release a high-quality protocol solution in the future (which I am sure of), I will run their solution without hesitation, but before that, if there are other alternative solutions, why not do it?

4. It is still a centralized individual system in the currency world

My final objection to SegWit is that it is a protocol done by individual organizations, and no matter how well they do it, Bitcoin decisions are better made by multiple parties, with the best of all parties coming together to form a single opinion; that way, through coded voting, users in the circle can choose the nodes they want to run on the blockchain, etc. Of course, consensus protocols also include these measures, which I have mentioned elsewhere.

Summarize:

The roundtable fell short in several areas and only provided some written language (not code), but luckily we already have a ready-made solution:

BitcoinClassic's two-terabyte expansion plan;

I believe that Bitcoin will develop better by following the following paths:

In the next few weeks, we should continue to upgrade the Bitcoin Classic solution, which will alleviate the current expansion pressure to a certain extent and restore our confidence in the Bitcoin system. Once 75% of users support Classic, the remaining 25% will be given the option in the next 30 days. After these 30 days, the blockchain will be upgraded to 2MB in 99% of the network computing power.

The price of the coin will rise again, and while we buy ourselves some time, people’s confidence in the industry will be restored;

After this, Bitcoin will usher in a situation where multiple teams and nodes compete together to accelerate the progress of Bitcoin protocol development; the core development group, Classic or other teams can contribute to the update of the protocol, and future protocols will reach consensus on the blockchain (the longest valid chain wins) instead of soliciting opinions through meetings and open letters.

If we can choose this approach, we will be able to complete the 2MB expansion upgrade by April 2016, while embracing other upgrade methods (such as the core development team's segregated witness solution).

If you are a miner or practitioner, please join the ranks of companies that are supporting Bitcoin Classic and don't delay what may happen in the future based on current decisions. Thank you.

Original article: https://medium.com/@barmstrong/the-bitcoin-roundtable-consensus-proposal-too-little-too-late-e694f13f40b#.2vc53jbg7
By Brian Armstrong
Translator: Martin from Bitbank
BTC address: 1FTZUdVvfPMEYNtbVHVkHrsahS41ByfiX2