Bitcoin SV isn’t the most popular blockchain project out there, mainly due to the antics of Craig Wright. That being said, it is one of the most promising projects we’ve seen for quite some time, and by sticking to the original principles from the original Bitcoin whitepaper it’s one of the most genuine projects around.
Just around the corner, Bitcoin SV will be upgrading to its latest version with the Quasar update. On July 24th, Bitcoin SV will launch a whole host of new features that will ensure Bitcoin SV is future proof and can stand the test of time – unlike Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Cash.
Enter 2gb Blocks
Next week, Bitcoin SV will increase the maximum hard cap to a whopping 2gb. Once Quasar goes live, the default block hard cap will be 2gb for all network participants, but Bitcoin SV is expecting miners to adjust their hard cap to 515mb. The whole point of this exercise is to prepare and train miners to control and manage the block sizes on their own, as in the Genesis upgrade during 2020 block size limitations will be scrapped by Bitcoin SV. It’s recommended that listeners leave the hard cap as the default 2gb, otherwise blocks larger than their hard cap will not be recognized.
Prepare for More Block Reorgs
This new system where miners and listeners can adjust their own block size has the potential to cause some trouble, but Bitcoin SV has it all under control. If a miner creates a block larger than the 512mb manual hard cap that most miners implement, but the miner has majority hash rate then the block will be added to the chain and accepted as valid. If the miner has a minority hash rate then the block will be orphaned and there will be a block reorg in your BSV instance. Should you be worried about all these potential orphans, then you can relax – there is nothing to worry about. This is the way Bitcoin was designed to work.
Wait, Bitcoin SV Will Remove Block Cap Limits?
That’s right, Bitcoin SV is planning to remove all imposed block cap limits during its 2020 Genesis upgrade. This means miners will be the ones to decide how big blocks will be, and this is the point of the 2gb block increase in Quasar. This 6 month or so period is an adjustment and training phase so that miners and listeners can get used to how the system will work come 2020.
Keeping Miners Happy
The whole point of increasing the Bitcoin SV block size and making it potentially unlimited is so that more transactions go into each block. This means transaction fees remain incredibly low and miners can remain profitable when the mining reward reduces even further. During the testing of these new 2gb blocks, miners on the testnet were making more in transaction fees than from the block reward itself. This is a huge boost for Bitcoin SV as it proves that it is future proof and that miners will want to remain on the network when the mining reward has been split in half many times. Bitcoin core’s solution to this issue is to print more BTC, something that will irritate the Bitcoin community.
This new Quasar update might look like it’s not adding many new features – which it isn’t – but it’s the principle that this block increase brings to the network. By training miners and listeners to get used to controlling block sizes on their own, as well as dealing with orphaned blocks and block reorgs, then Bitcoin SV can be sure Genesis will go off without a hitch.
