Post
Topic
Board Bitcoin Discussion
Re: Fork off
by
inBitweTrust
on 27/01/2015, 02:26:55 UTC
After pondering this a bit more, I think that agreeing on some economical aspects of the protocol in the future is exactly what Bitcoin is for.

Yes. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Prohibited_changes

Require unanimous consent

These changes require the consent of every bitcoin-holder:

    Increasing the total number of issued bitcoins beyond 21 million. Precision may be increased, but proportions must be unchanged.
    Any rule that adds required, explicit centralization. For example, a change requiring that all blocks be signed by some central organization.
    Demurrage (deletion or reassignment of coins judged to be "lost" or "unused"). This is highly controversial in the context of currency units; on the other hand it is absolutely essential for namespace entries like [Namecoin] (which implements Demurrage for namespace entries but not for currency units).\

I would also add 2 more aspects that should be classified under "Require unanimous consent":

1) Anything that harms fungibility such as reversible blockchain transactions or blacklisting.
2) Explicitly weakening the inherent pseudo-anonymity of bitcoin where individuals aren't empowered to choose their degree of transparency vs privacy

Require miner consensus

    Changing the bitcoin distribution algorithm such that the subsidy at any given time period is decreased without miner consensus and 3 years notice, or increased beyond improved precision of halving (lossy beginning with block 1,890,000).

Disputed

    Adding alternatives to Proof of Work such as Proof of Stake. This could change core bitcoin too much, but with widespread agreement of some sort might be possible.

------------------------------------------

This hardfork to adjust block size is categorically in the 2nd section requiring miner and full node agreement with a slow and careful roll-out and trying to reach consensus by the community first and allowing them to address their concerns.