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How ‘Forward Blocks’ could help scale Bitcoin

Blockstream co-founder, Mark Friedenbach, has announced a new proposal for addressing the scaling challenges faced by the Bitcoin network.

Friedenbach presented his new scaling concept, called Forward Blocks at the Scaling Bitcoin Conference in Tokyo. Forward blocks are a novel proposal to upgrade the Bitcoin Network without the need for a hard fork. The solution works by circumventing two of the major challenges that have been contentious issues within the Bitcoin scaling debate namely: the block size and backward compatibility.

The first scaling solution implemented within the Bitcoin network was the Segregated Witness (SegWit) protocol. SegWit attempted to address the congestion within the network by amending the need for certain data to be included in the block. By removing script and signature data out of the area constrained by the original 1 MB block size, SegWit increased the capacity by a factor of 2x to 3.6x.

Unfortunately, this increase cannot be replicated as there is no further unsigned transaction data that can be left out of the blocks. Thus, SegWit does not adequately address the scaling problems within the Bitcoin network.

While SegWit was a one-time solution, it does represent one of the paths taken by developers with regard to introducing upgrades that will improve the Bitcoin network. As referenced earlier, developers have been focusing on solutions that do not require a hard fork within the Bitcoin network. A hard fork is not a desirable outcome as it is likely to affect several aspects of a digital currency, such as its value and community support.

Therefore, much of the scaling debate is now focusing on solutions that avoid this outcome. For instance, the Lightning Network protocol, which was launched for testing earlier this year, involves the creation of channels that support off-chain transactions.

The main blockchain would only record the details of the payment into the channel while the other transactions within the channel would be recorded off-chain. This way, the Bitcoin Network can be alleviated of undue congestion.

SegWit2x fell apart mainly because it required a hard fork. This upgrade would have raised the block limit to 2 MB but would have completely locked out any other nodes that would not be upgraded to the new code, causing another contentious hard fork. Friedenbach’s proposal is a novel way to combine the benefits of increasing block size but without the need for a hard fork.

What are forward blocks?

"The concept of forward blocks which combine the best of both approaches enabling aggregate block limits on size and number of signature operations to be circumvented as a soft-fork, while preserving the property that the spend graph, including all transactions and their witnesses, is seen by legacy clients," its whitepaper explains.

Friedenbach says that while the conventional wisdom with regard to scaling Bitcoin all contains unacceptable tradeoffs, combining them interestingly cancels out the undesirable effects of each of them.

The proposal would take effect in the form of a soft fork. The soft fork would introduce a new proof-of-work algorithm which would then allow for a number of unintended yet desirable effects for the blockchain. Friedenbach explains that the idea of forward blocks initially began as research into bitcoin’s POW and how amendments could be made to the consensus mechanism without requiring a hard fork.

While looking into the possibility of having dual proof-of-work algorithms working within the same blockchain and how that could be managed in a way that would require the least amount of coordination amongst miners as well as remove the possibility of centralization, Friedenbach developed the concept of forward blocks.

Forward blocks are simply extensions appended to the blocks in the network. The new POW would allow nodes to validate one or more extensions per block. These extensions would allow for more information to be included per block thus positively affect the speed of the network. The forward blocks would operate under a fifteen-minute interval so as to reduce the chances of centralization.

Moreover, the nodes working on the new POW, referred to as the upgraded nodes, would also be able to manipulate the time stamps on the legacy blocks running the old POW to introduce a time warp attack.

While a time warp attack is a negative thing, in the context of forward blocks, it would be used in a limited yet permanent capacity, controlled by the code. The reason for introducing the attack is to allow the legacy blocks the flexibility to include the transactions that will be recorded in the forward blocks.

This solves the problem of backward compatibility, negating the need for deliberation on forking the network. Furthermore, it provides node operators with the flexibility to decide on which POW they want to use.

Forward blocks are able to increase transaction volumes by a significant amount. The white paper states: "Effective block sizes of up to 14.336 GWe can be achieved in this way, permitting scaling up on-chain/settlement transaction volume to 3584x current levels, if permitted by the new consensus rules"

The proposal provides a framework upon which further positive amendments can be made to the Bitcoin network including sharding, confidential transactions as well as sidechain value-transfer mechanisms, amongst others.

Good for investors?

Friedenbach’s proposal comes as good news to bitcoin users and investors alike because it provides a stable, non-combative, non-confrontational tool through which the Bitcoin network can be upgraded.

Without the need for a hard fork, stakeholders are not required to reach a consensus and there is little risk of adverse price movements in the aftermath of such a scenario. Additionally, stakeholders retain their right to choose their actions without being coerced or forced to accept a network upgrade.

Finally, if a faster, better-equipped network is the outcome of the implementation of the forward blocks proposal, then the price of bitcoin will likely receive a boost.


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