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Evolving

links: DSS TOC - Evolving the Protocol - Index


Why evolution matters

The evolution of the protocol is crucial to keep up with technological and environmental breakthroughs. For example if more powerful calculation methods are detected, we must be able to upgrade the protocol in order to remain secure. Another example is the consensus used. At the time the Proof-of-Work (PoW) is used in Bitcoin and we know that it helps destroying our planet by eating a lot of resources. So it might be a good idea to get away from Proof-of-Work (PoW) somehow.

Consensus Rules

The rules that determine the validity of a transaction and blocks are called consensus rules. If nodes do not agree on them, the network falls apart. But upgrading or evolving these rules is a hard task since it requires all nodes to cooperate in a coordinated manner on fundamental building blocks of the protocol such as:

  • Structure of transactions and blocks
  • Block size
  • Block timestamps
  • Issuance Schedule (coin limit)
  • Adjustment of puzzle difficulty

Not consensus relevant: User interface, disk storage of blocks and keys, P2P network handling, Mempool handling, ...


links: DSS TOC - Evolving the Protocol - Index