Bitcoin Q&A: SegWit and Fork Research
Channel: aantonop
Date: 2018-05-31

How likely is a hard fork to increase the block size in the future? Under what conditions might that happen? What is being prioritised in the roadmap? Why implement Segregated Witness (SegWit) instead of "simply" increasing the block size limit?

More on SegWit and capacity increase research: https://bitcoincore.org/en/2015/12/23/capacity-increases-faq/

More on Bitcoin hard fork research: https://bitcoinhardforkresearch.github.io/

Chapters
0:00 Even with the Lightning Network, will Bitcoin need a hard fork to increase the block size?
3:22 Why not also implement some changes that are absolutely important and necessary, that also might require a hard fork?
4:28 Wouldn't it be a better solution to raise the block size limit, like BCH did, rather than use Segregated Witness (which will add more data, 38 - 47 bytes in the coinbase transaction)?

These questions are from the February Patreon live Q&A and MOOC session 9.5, which took place on February 24th and March 16th 2018 respectively. Andreas is a teaching fellow with the University of Nicosia. The first course in their Master of Science in Digital Currency degree, DFIN-511: Introduction to Digital Currencies, is offered for free as an open enrollment MOOC course to anyone interested in learning about the fundamental principles.

If you want early-access to talks and a chance to participate in the monthly live Q&As with Andreas, become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/aantonop

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Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a technologist and serial entrepreneur who has become one of the most well-known and respected figures in bitcoin.

Follow on Twitter: @aantonop https://twitter.com/aantonop
Website: https://antonopoulos.com/

He is the author of two books: “Mastering Bitcoin,” published by O’Reilly Media and considered the best technical guide to bitcoin; “The Internet of Money,” a book about why bitcoin matters.

THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v1: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Internet-Money-collection-Andreas-Antonopoulos/dp/1537000454/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

[NEW] THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v2: https://www.amazon.com/Internet-Money-Andreas-M-Antonopoulos/dp/194791006X/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

MASTERING BITCOIN: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-Bitcoin-Unlocking-Digital-Cryptocurrencies/dp/1449374042

[NEW] MASTERING BITCOIN, 2nd Edition: https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bitcoin-Programming-Open-Blockchain/dp/1491954388

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