Why Bitcoin doesn’t need a solution

One of the most common arguments heard today defending the urgent need to increase the block size is that Bitcoin no longer delivers on it’s original promise: cheap, easy, fast payments.

Another argument in favor of compromise is that the division in the community is causing strife, breaking trust in Bitcoin and hurting our reputation in the wider world.

My perspective is different. I believe Bitcoin is delivering exactly on its original promise and is earning the trust we give it. When I first learned about Bitcoin, the feature that stood out the most was the immutable and incorruptible nature of the rules. Code, not politics.

And what gives Bitcoin’s rules their unchangeable nature? It’s exactly what we are seeing today, the coordination problem of having millions of diverse users and businesses having to agree, or at least consent, to a technically specific set of changes. It was obvious from the beginning that, as Bitcoin matured, it would become harder and harder to change the rules. This is a feature! So please don’t despair that Bitcoin is “stuck”. Rejoice that it is resistant to change in the face of disagreement. This is what gives Bitcoin it’s value.

So can we ever have a hard fork that changes block size or anything else? Sure, it’s possible. But I don’t think I, or anyone else, can predict how, when, or if that coordination might align. In the meantime, we work with the protocol we have and keep making proposals to improve it.