Bitcoin Classic

Bitcoin Classic
Initial release 10 February 2016 (2016-02-10)
Stable release
1.2.0 / 5 January 2017 (2017-01-05)
Repository github.com/bitcoinclassic
Written in C++,Qt
Operating system Linux, Windows, OS X
Type Cryptocurrencies
License MIT License, GPL
Website bitcoinclassic.com

Bitcoin Classic was one of several forks of the Bitcoin reference implementation Bitcoin Core aiming to increase the transaction processing capacity of Bitcoin by increasing the block size limit.[1] Blocks, which contain transaction data, form the basic structure of the immutable blockchain. Bitcoin Classic started out as similar to, though less aggressive than, the Bitcoin XT fork, which never managed to get the support it needed. Bitcoin Classic in its first 8 months promoted a single increase of the maximum block size from one megabyte to two megabytes.[2][3] In November 2016 this changed and the project moved to a solution that moved the limit out of the software rules into the hands of the miners and nodes.[4]

Bitcoin Classic was also an attempt to move the technical governance of this decentralized and independent Bitcoin project from the developers of the original Bitcoin to a voting process involving a larger community of miners, businesses, developers and users.[5] There was no formal activation method for the software, but due to the nature of Bitcoin a supermajority needed to support it.

On November 10, 2017, Bitcoin Classic ceased operation, declaring that Bitcoin Cash is now the only hope for bitcoin to become scalable.[6]

Blockchain bottleneck

In Bitcoin, transactions are collected into blocks, and each block is produced by the bitcoin network on average every ten minutes. With Bitcoin's current limit of one megabyte, this capacity translates to an estimated average of three transactions per second. With Bitcoin Classic's proposed doubling of the block size limit to two megabytes, the maximum transaction rate would also roughly double.[7] If deployed, Bitcoin Classic would render current Bitcoin software obsolete, as it changes protocol parameters, namely increasing the maximum block size from one megabyte to two megabytes.[8][9] Most implementations of Bitcoin software would require small modifications to the block size limit in order to continue to work.

Reception

Bitcoin Classic had received support from some Bitcoin companies, developers, investors and miners, such as Coinbase, Bitstamp, Circle, Jeff Garzik, Roger Ver and Gavin Andresen.[10] The Wall Street Journal said "Bitcoin Classic has emerged from the ashes of the XT versus Core debate. It is a version of Bitcoin that would allow for a two-megabyte limit. It appears to be quickly winning support." [2] However a hard fork was not seen as an urgent issue by the wider bitcoin community.[7] Opponents argued that increased size of blocks will lead to increased system resource requirements for operating a full node, which in turn will lead to increased centralization.[11] The software's peak use was observed in early 2016 with a steady decline in usage from March 2016 onwards.[12]

Termination

On November 10, 2017, in the wake of the failure of plans for the hard fork to double the bitcoin block size, Bitcoin Classic ceased operation, declaring that Bitcoin Cash is now the only hope for bitcoin to become scalable.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Picking the perfect Blocksize". Retrieved April 28, 2017.
  2. 1 2 Paul Vigna (17 January 2016). "Is Bitcoin Breaking Up?". WSJ.
  3. ↑ "Making Sense of Bitcoin's Divisive Block Size Debate". CoinDesk.
  4. ↑ "Classic is Back". Retrieved April 28, 2017.
  5. ↑ Aaron van Wirdum. "Unlimited, Classic and 'BitPay Core': Bitcoin's New Kids on the Blockchain". Bitcoin Magazine.
  6. 1 2 O'Leary, Rachel Rose (10 November 2017). "Bitcoin Classic to Cease Code Support In Wake of 2x Suspension". CoinDesk. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  7. 1 2 "BitFury Announces Support for Bitcoin Classic". NEWSBTC. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  8. ↑ "Bitcoin Classic".
  9. ↑ "Capacity increases FAQ".
  10. ↑ "BitFury Comes Out In Support of Bitcoin Classic - EconoTimes". EconoTimes.
  11. ↑ Kyle Torpey (Mar 4, 2016). "Four Key Disagreements Between Bitcoin Classic and Bitcoin Core". Bitcoin Magazine. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  12. ↑ "Bitcoin Classic Nodes". coin.dance. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
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