By
Bhushan Akolkar
August 29th, 2022
Bitcoin Classic can be a way out of endless discussions about the possibility of bitcoin block size increase.
The new Bitcoin Classic version 0.11.2 has been released. It differs from the beta2 version only by the version number. Bitcoin Classic 0.11.2 focuses on doubling the transaction capacity of Bitcoin and includes a consensus rule change that increases the block size limit from 1MB to 2MB.
Bitcoin community has been discussing the bitcoin block size change for quite a while and finally we see some particular solution. The new version of Bitcoin Classic is now gaining approval and support from various entities in the bitcoin industry. Coin.Dance, node data site, has provided statistics, according to which Bitcoin Classic has 683 nodes running the software at the time of writing, while Bitcoin core has 3,935. BitcoinXT (170 nodes) and Bitcoin Unlimited (64 nodes) have not been able to get much support yet.
The Bitcoin Classic team has unveiled that they are planning the next release, based on Bitcoin Core version 0.12, in several weeks. This time they will pay especial attention to such features as faster block validation and faster block propagation to help Bitcoin scale on-chain. “These features will help alleviate bandwidth issues tremendously, and will make sure nodes and miners can continue to operate properly, without requiring superfast connections”, the team said. “More importantly, this will enable Bitcoin to scale to a much higher transaction volume.”
Bitcoin Classic is supported by a group of developers including Jonathan Toomim, Ahmed Bodiwala, Gavin Andresen, Jeff Garzik, Peter Rizun as well as by many companies with Coinbase, OKCoin, Bitstamp among others. One of the developers, Jeff Garzik, owns startup Bloq Inc. that develops new features for blockchain software and have access to 24/7 customer support.
Bloq has five customers, including bitcoin startups Circle Internet Financial Ltd, ItBit Trust Company LLC, and KnCMiner AB, and expects to soon add Foxconn Technology Group, which assembles iPhones and other electronics.
The developers express confidence that miners and users will be satisfied with Bitcoin Classic as it establishes democratic decision-making on code changes, using miner and user input. “We are writing the software that miners and users say they want. We will make sure that it covers their needs, helps them deploy it, and gracefully upgrade the bitcoin network’s capacity together.” Bitcoin Classic will be implemented if the majority approves the change.
Opinions of bitcoin experts were not slow in coming. Mostly they are quite negative. Gary Rowe, a contract web and bitcoin application developer, writes: “It is likely that increased block size will permit more transactions per second which will increase the utility of the Bitcoin network which will in turn increase demand against a fixed supply. This will drive up the bitcoin price and more transactions mean more fees for miners.”
Nicolas Dorier, NBitcoin developer, says in Twitter:
@NicolasDorier Bitmain does not support splitting the chain. Classic is only an implementation of 2MB HF.
— Jihan Wu (@JihanWu) February 2, 2016
Although Bitcoin Classic developers are certain about success, only time will show whether the project, they suggest, survives.
