The Bitcoin Cash network has officially upgraded the blockchain protocol at approximately 1:54 EDT by extending the current block size fourfold from 8MB to 32MB. The consensus change is one of the largest block size increases in blockchain history,
Bitcoin Cash Upgrade Milestone Complete: 32MB and New Features
The Bitcoin Cash Network Has Successfully Upgraded its Block Size to 32MB
Bitcoin Cash Upgrade Milestone Complete: 32MB and New FeaturesThe wait is over as the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network has upgraded its base block size from 8MB to 32MB. The implementation of the new consensus rules went into effect at block height 530356, and so far the transition has been smooth as the community awaits the next concession of blocks. Miners and other full BCH nodes had already upgraded their clients to the latest Bitcoin ABC 0.17.1 and other supported implementations like Bitcoin Unlimited, and XT over the past few weeks as the community prepared for the change. Among some minor updates, three notable changes have been enforced throughout the network which includes a 32MB block size, an increased default data-carrier-size to 220 bytes, and re-enabling previously disabled Satoshi OP_Codes.
Bitcoin Cash Upgrade Milestone Complete: 32MB and New Features
The Bitcoin Cash block size is increasing from 8MB to 32MB. The increase should allow for massive amounts of transaction throughput for years to come.
The first and biggest change to the Bitcoin Cash consensus rules is obviously the fourfold block size increase. Raising the block size to 32MB will allow vast amounts of transactions to pass through the network with consistent inexpensive transaction fees. Right now the amount of BCH transactions per day has been steadily increasing, and because the base block size has increased by four times its original size, blocks will not fill up for a very long time. The capability of this mechanism has been proven multiple times as there have been many BCH blocks between 2-8MB processed over the course of the past nine months. For instance, just sixteen days after the fork on August 1 the mining pool Viabtc processed an 8MB BCH block which cleared over 37,000 transactions in one fell swoop.
Upgrading the Default Data-Carrier-Size to 220 Bytes
Another notable Bitcoin Cash network change is the blockchain’s default data-carrier-size being raised from 80-bytes to 220-bytes. This enables a robust OP_Return feature which is a relatively inexpensive way to embed data into the BCH chain. Essentially the OP_Return is a script code that is used to mark transactions as invalid but many cryptocurrency enthusiasts believe the OP_Return feature is meant to record a rich set of data and not just financial transactions. However, back in 2014, BTC developers believed “storing arbitrary data in the blockchain is a bad idea” and recommended users store “non-currency data elsewhere.” OP_Return has been in the Bitcoin codebase since it was launched, and in February 2014 the 80-byte OP_Return was reduced to 40-bytes, but it was later increased and merged back to 80 bytes in 2015. Basically, the developers at the time considered this type of blockchain usage as ‘spam’ that would end up bloating the network.
Bitcoin Cash Upgrade Milestone Complete: 32MB and New Features
Photo source: Massimo Bartoletti and Livio Pompianu’s An Analysis of Bitcoin OP_Return Metadata
However, even as developers warned that the use of OP_Return was a ‘bad idea,’ individuals and organizations continued to use it to embed arbitrary data. Two organizations, specifically Omni layer, and Counterparty, showed that using OP_Return for arbitrary data could be innovative towards building meta-protocols over a secure blockchain — although when blocks are full and the network is congested these types of layer systems find the blockchain’s network fees unsustainable. The BCH chain upgrading to 32MB and increasing the default data-carrier-size to 220 bytes will allow all kinds of innovations, like added creativity in applications such as Memo, Counterparty Cash, Blockpress, and many other platforms.
Bitcoin Cash Upgrade Milestone Complete: 32MB and New Features
This Upgrade Will Help the Cryptocurrency Community Learn to Understand the Original Satoshi OP_Codes
Bitcoin Cash Upgrade Milestone Complete:
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