- The creator of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, has revisited the “Bitcoin block size war,” rethinking his alliance with the “big block” camp in the late 2010s and now conceding that the “small block” contingent prevailed for good reason.
- Reflecting on two Bitcoin history books told from opposite sides of the debate, Vitalik Buterin published a lengthy blog post on Friday over how Bitcoin should scale, upgrade, and be governed.
- “Small blockers committed far fewer embarrassing technical faux pas, and had fewer positions that led to absurd outcomes if you tried to take them to their logical conclusion,” wrote Vitalik.
Vitalik Buterin revisits the Bitcoin block size war, conceding the small block camp’s victory for good reason.
Revisiting the Bitcoin Block Size War
In a recent blog post, Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin reflected on the contentious “Bitcoin block size war” of the late 2010s. Buterin, who once sided with the “big block” proponents, now acknowledges that the “small block” camp’s approach was ultimately more sustainable. The debate centered around how Bitcoin should scale, upgrade, and be governed, with big blockers advocating for hard-fork upgrades to increase transaction throughput. However, Buterin now believes that the big blockers lacked the technical competence to execute their vision effectively, leading to their failure to change Bitcoin.
The Competence Trap
Buterin noted that the small blockers’ success was partly due to their technical competence and fewer embarrassing missteps. He cited Jonathan Bier’s “The Blocksize War,” which provided a small-blocker perspective, and Roger Ver’s “Hijacking Bitcoin,” from the large-blocker viewpoint. According to Buterin, the various implementations of Bitcoin proposed by large blockers were flawed. For instance, Bitcoin Classic was not well-written, and Bitcoin Unlimited was overly complicated. Additionally, the big blockers’ alliance with the now-discredited Craig Wright further damaged their reputation.
Current Challenges and Future Outlook
Despite the small blockers’ victory, Bitcoin faces ongoing challenges. Bitcoin Core developer Matt Corralo recently expressed concerns about Bitcoin’s future as a peer-to-peer currency, citing the lack of effective scaling solutions without intermediaries. This has reignited debates around soft fork proposals and the ultimate goals for Bitcoin’s development. Buterin suggests that new technology, rather than compromise, is the key to resolving these issues. He highlighted ZK-SNARKs as a promising privacy and scaling solution that was notably absent from both historical accounts of the block size war.
Innovations in Bitcoin Scaling
Recent developments in Bitcoin technology, such as Inscriptions and BitVM, have opened new possibilities for layer 2 solutions, improving upon the capabilities of the Lightning Network. Projects like BitcoinOS are working on decentralized rollup platforms that could significantly enhance Bitcoin’s transaction capacity while maintaining decentralization. These advancements could render the block size debate obsolete, as they offer scalable solutions without requiring consensus changes to Bitcoin Core.
Conclusion
Vitalik Buterin’s reflections on the Bitcoin block size war underscore the importance of technical competence and innovative solutions in the cryptocurrency space. While the small blockers have won the historical debate, the future of Bitcoin hinges on addressing current scaling challenges through new technologies like ZK-SNARKs and decentralized rollups. These advancements promise to enhance Bitcoin’s functionality and scalability, potentially paving the way for a more robust and decentralized financial ecosystem.
