There have been a few proposals to increase the maximum blocksize in Bitcoin over the past year, but the two plans that are garnering the most attention right now are Jeff Garzik ’s BIP 100 and Gavin Andresen ’s BIP 101 . While Andresen has already implemented his plan in BitcoinXT , Garzik is still working on a formal write-up and the code for BIP 100.
Andresen shared his thoughts on BIP 100 via an interview on Epicenter Bitcoin . Although he did not seem completely dismissive of the proposal, it’s clear that he would prefer to go with his own idea for increasing the blocksize, which would offer more predictability in regard to where the blocksize limit will be in the future.
How BIP 100 Works
When asked directly about BIP 100 by Epicenter Bitcoin co-host Sébastien Couture , Andresen was quick to describe the basic way in which the concept is intended to work:
“Jeff [Garzik]’s proposal is that basically the miners get to decide what the next maximum blocksize should be. There’s kind of a regular vote every — on the order of months.”
Andresen then discussed both BIP 100 and BIP 101 in terms of which proposal would lead to a larger increase in the blocksize limit. The Bitcoin Foundation chief scientist noted that Garzik’s proposal does not come with an immediate increase after it has been implemented, but this does not necessarily mean that it would limit the size of blocks over the short term: [Garzik] starts with the status quo, so he has no jump-up until the first miner vote. It’s more cautious there. I mean, theoretically, miners could double-up — he has a maximum of 32 megabyte blocks — more quickly. So, if miners wanted to and they all voted for the maximum […]
