



Lately, I’ve noticed that a lot of people in the Bitcoin Cash community are worried. They’re worried about the upcoming hardfork. In fact, they seem to worry about it more than they are debating it.

The chances are, if you’re reading this article, then you probably know about the upcoming hardfork and the two main competing clients: ABC & SV (Satoshi’s Vision). The ABC client seeks to introduce a new op-code called OP_checkdata, and a new transaction ordering format. The SV client is planning to re-introduce 4 original op-codes, and raise the blocksize to 128mb. This article is not written to argue for either side, but rather to convince the reader to stop worrying about the upcoming hardfork.

Why people are worried:

Everyone is worried about a split happening in the network and multiple BCH coins coming out of it. It would significantly divide the community and slow down the rate of adoption. Nobody want multiple forks of Bitcoin Cash.

Why there’s nothing to worry about:

Before I get into that, there are a few things that you need to realize:

1. Nothing is going to stop Nchain and Bitmain from backing down on their ego. They are both going to try to upgrade the network at the same time with incompatible clients.

2. Neither is going to implement replay protection. They both want to make an upgrade to the Bitcoin Cash Network. Neither will be satisfied to simply fork off like Bitcoin Cash originally did from Bitcoin Core.

The reason I’m not worried about is because I do not think it will result in multiple coins. Rather one proposal will win out. Fast forward to the future: The date is November 15th 2018. Both groups have upgraded, and the network anxiously awaits the next block to be found. Then a miner finds it, and starts to relay the block discovery across the network. Different mining nodes will either accept or reject the block because of the different transaction ordering rules. As the majority chain picks up, the undecided XT miners will jump on-board the chain with the most hash. The loser of the the battle will end up paying lost opportunity costs of block rewards. It may not even come to that though as miners will most likely have already voted beforehand so that no potential block rewards get lost.

Why this is a good thing:

The reason that I the hardfork is a good thing is because there is some healthy competition going on between miners as they strive to ensure that Bitcoin (BCH) becomes the best cash the world has ever seen. Bitcoin Core was going to slow kill the mining industry by limiting the on-chain transaction capacity to 1mb and eventually force everyone into their subsidized sidechain, whereas Bitcoin (BCH) has literally laid out the red carpet to the miners, these defenders of the network. That’s why miners from both sides of the debate are willing to risk the costs of such a battle to each do what they think is best for Bitcoin.

Warning + advice:

First of all, I’d like to warn everyone to stay away from the Cobra Cash Client. Although I do think it would be nice if the hardfork was delayed or put off for November, the mining powers that be think otherwise, and will most likely not back down unless it is a stalemate. The reason I advise against the cobra client is because it seeks to implement replay protection between the competing hashes to create multiple forks of BCH, rather than letting the miners have it out. It is simply a poison pill. Multiple forks of Bitcoin Cash would be a huge blow, and greatly set back adoption.

I would however like commend the Developers at Bitcoin XT for making a client that will follow the longest Proof-Of-Work chain, which is in line with what the Bitcoin whitepaper says. I recommend that wallets and exchanges, and payment processors run the XT client so that people’s funds may be kept safe no matter what happens. To any wallet, exchange, or payment processor: If you decide on a client before the miners do that does not follow the longest chain, then you are in support of Bitcoin Cash being split (in other words: please run XT until the miners decide).

In closing, I have to admit that I was a bit worried about the upcoming hardfork at first. My fears about the hardfork were set at ease when I remembered the section in the whitepaper about the one CPU, one vote and the part about following the longest POW chain. I’m sure hurt feelings on upgrade day, and you may not get the upgrade you want (that is if you even want one). To me, that is way better than Bitcoin Cash splitting into multiple coins. Instead of worrying about the hardfork, be possitive. Focus on increasing adoption.