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Bitcoin Is Forking Again

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Re: Bitcoin Is Forking Again

#41
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would ALSO be a hard fork though. IE the legacy chain would be dead. Yes, the legacy chain people can create their own new fork, but then it has to deal with all the disadvantages of being a hard fork, and the old chain will be dead.

Why would the legacy chain be dead? Bitcoin Cash is a hard fork of Bitcoin, both still run.

Currently 93% of the hashpower is signaling that they will switch from the legacy chain to the new hard fork.

If the main chain has a very low hashpower, then anybody and their mother can attack it/double spend/ ect very easily.

The miners on the fork could even commit some hashpower on their own to attack the old chain, so as to make sure that the new one wins.

Bitcoin cash never has the support of any significant amount of hashpower, so of course the main chain is still around.

Re: Bitcoin Is Forking Again

#42
post #10

Giving more cash to the early adopters and 'investors' again. I suppose it's a neat way to gain some traction - hold BTC, get this for free...

This "fork" is really just the evolution of the main chain, that's all. It'll have more claim to the Bitcoin name than the "core" Bitcoin with small blocks. Keeping the transaction history is sort of the entire point.

But can you use this forked version, and normal BTC interchangeably?

Re: Bitcoin Is Forking Again

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This "fork" is really just the evolution of the main chain, that's all. It'll have more claim to the Bitcoin name than the "core" Bitcoin with small blocks. Keeping the transaction history is sort of the entire point.

But can you use this forked version, and normal BTC interchangeably?

It's better to think of it as a hard forked upgrade. Normal BTC won't exist in any meaningful manner after this fork. Just like other coins hardfork all the time to upgrade. The previous chain could still exist if you wanted to run it, but no one does.

Losing anywhere near 90% hashrate means that chain of Bitcoin has no point in being called Bitcoin anymore.

Re: Bitcoin Is Forking Again

#44
post #32
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The question in this case is whether the original Bitcoin could survive after the fork if this support is maintained. When I read this kind of statistic, I'm a bit confused about why not, unless the 92% are planning to use some of their resources to try to actively disrupt the original chain (by censoring 100% of transactions or something).

If the new chain gets, say, 1% of the hashing power, then blocks will be found on average 100 times less often, which extends the time to reaching a new adjustment period from two weeks to 200 weeks...enough to arguably kill it.

Thanks for that observation.

It seems like this sort of "make the adjustment period take a horrifically long time to reach" effect only happens if the cutover is very abrupt and includes the overwhelming majority of hashpower, and if people are persuaded enough of the outcome of the fork that they don't speculatively bring new hashpower online to take advantage of the suddenly-easier-to-earn block rewards.

Re: Bitcoin Is Forking Again

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Financial markets in general are propped up propaganda. We trade expectations. If the prices agree with the propaganda content, most market participants believe it to be true... until something unexpected shatters their belief.

What? No.

Once you believe that dollars are fictitious propaganda then the companies earning all that money must be likewise.

Re: Bitcoin Is Forking Again

#46
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I'm not a multi millionaire who needs to transfer that kind of money? What exactly are people buying with bitcoin that cannot be done with standard currencies? Unless it offers some radical access to process or markets standard currencies do not, I just can't see the point.

I'm sure the parties involved in transferring $160M via an anonymous and untraceable currency had perfectly legitimate reasons for doing so /s.

Wasn't anonymous or untraceable.

Re: Bitcoin Is Forking Again

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Financial markets in general are propped up propaganda. We trade expectations. If the prices agree with the propaganda content, most market participants believe it to be true... until something unexpected shatters their belief.

What? No.

Any logical counter-arguments?

Re: Bitcoin Is Forking Again

#48
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would the legacy chain be dead? Bitcoin Cash is a hard fork of Bitcoin, both still run.

Currently 93% of the hashpower is signaling that they will switch from the legacy chain to the new hard fork. If the main chain has a very low hashpower, then anybody and their mother can attack it/double spend/ ect very easily. The miners on the fork could even commit some hashpower on their own to attack the old chain, so as to make sure that the new one wins. Bitcoin cash never has the support of any significant a…

True, but event 7% of the BTC hashpower is quite significant, and we may find that the 'old' branch lives on as another "Classic" or something.

Guess we'll see.

Re: Bitcoin Is Forking Again

#49
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I'm not a multi millionaire who needs to transfer that kind of money? What exactly are people buying with bitcoin that cannot be done with standard currencies? Unless it offers some radical access to process or markets standard currencies do not, I just can't see the point.

I'm sure the parties involved in transferring $160M via an anonymous and untraceable currency had perfectly legitimate reasons for doing so /s.

Wasn't anonymous OR untraceable, which is clearly evidenced by the fact that we all know about it and can see it on the public blockchain.

Re: Bitcoin Is Forking Again

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure the parties involved in transferring $160M via an anonymous and untraceable currency had perfectly legitimate reasons for doing so /s.

Wasn't anonymous OR untraceable, which is clearly evidenced by the fact that we all know about it and can see it on the public blockchain.

Ok, then who has the money now?
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