The never ending bitcoin blocksize debate returns to the forefront as ViaBTC, a new pool with around 10% network hashrate, moves all of its mining operations to Bitcoin Unlimited. In a new public statement, ViaBTC delivered the most scathing criticism yet of the current bitcoin scaling situation. Written by Haipo Yang, CEO of ViaBTC, formerly at Tencent with experience in the development of distributed, highly concurrent network servers, the article argues that, in effect, the 1MB limit will destroy miners: “[W]ithout growing capacity for on-chain transactions the business model of the miners who secure the bitcoin network against attacks will be destroyed. If mining ceases to be a profitable enterprise, and it will if we do not allow conditions which enable more on-chain transactions to occur, the network will lose the enormous amount of computing power that keeps it secure from attackers. This is guaranteed to bring about the failure of Bitcoin the protocol as well as bitcoin the currency.” In a previous article the founder, Mr Yang, is described as a die-hard bitcoin fan who learned about the digital currency in 2011. Based on his “high performance server and background development” experience at Tencent, Yang developed a mining pool in just two months and now has shot all the way to 10% of the bitcoin mining network. The newcomer has been very vocal about on-chain scaling with the latest action placing in doubt bitcoin’s future trajectory. Segwit Enables “bitcoin’s death march [to] continue” Until ViaBTC’s actions, it was assumed that the network was to transform into a bank like clearing system, with segwit, now long overdue, to be activated sometime this winter. ViaBTC’s actions, however, make it very clear that’s not going to happen unless Bitcoin Core takes a hypocritical stance and lowers the threshold despite year-long insistence […]
