An interesting situation is developing within the Bitcoin currency network. Vox and a number of other leading technology sites are reporting that there is increasing division between two different camps with opposing perspectives on the future of Bitcoin. The nature of the reported dispute might seem minor, but it could have significant consequences for the development of what has been one of the world’s most successful alternate currencies.
Since being launched in 2009, the rules of Bitcoin and its network have remained relatively unchanged. However, it is danger of becoming the victim of its own success. Growing popularity threatens to push Bitcoin usage over the current network capacity.
The technical side of increasing Bitcoin capacity is relatively straightforward. The software can be designed differently and there are strong supporters of increasing size and expansion. However, there is growing opposition, those in the community who argue that increasing the size of the network will lead to a centralisation of the currency, something which Bitcoin was specifically designed to subvert.
Whichever route the Bitcoin community decides to take, it will be a significant decision for the alternative currency. There are a number of potential scenarios at play, including the implementation of the most significant change to Bitcoin since its inception, a line being drawn under the currency and its limitations, or most dramatically (and possibly most likely) a divide being created in a previously united community.
It’s worth noting that we do not view the last of those possibilities as wholly negative (nor wholly positive). Debate, disagreement and division have a role to play in the development and creation of positive innovation.
Source: Bitcoin is on the verge of a constitutional crisis
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