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Bitcoin

Bitcoin's Taproot Upgrade Should Occur On Saturday (cryptobriefing.com) 115

Posted by BeauHD from the long-awaited-upgrades dept.
Bitcoin's long-awaited Taproot update will occur in the coming days, with most sources suggesting Saturday as its activation date. Crypto Briefing reports: Taproot is an upgrade that will improve Bitcoin's capacity for scripting, bringing it in line with competing blockchains like Ethereum that already have programmable smart contracts. Taproot will also introduce MAST (Merkelized Abstract Syntax Tree), which will make it more difficult to trace and analyze Bitcoin transactions. It does so by making complex transactions -- such as multi-signature transactions and Lightning Network transactions -- indistinguishable from basic transactions. The upgrade will also include Schnorr signatures, which will create smaller transaction sizes through data aggregation.

Together, these features mean that developers will be able to create more extensive Bitcoin applications, while end-users will be able to benefit from cheaper, more private transactions. Taproot is Bitcoin's most significant upgrade since 2017, when the cryptocurrency introduced a controversial new feature called SegWit. The Taproot upgrade is much less likely to cause division.

Though Taproot already gained support from miners earlier this week, 800 blocks will need to be mined under those conditions before the feature is actually activated. NiceHash's countdown suggests that the upgrade will occur at 1:00 UTC on Saturday, Nov. 14. Another countdown website, Taproot.watch concurs with that estimate, suggesting that there are just 339 blocks left to mine at the time of writing.
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Bitcoin's Taproot Upgrade Should Occur On Saturday More

Bitcoin's Taproot Upgrade Should Occur On Saturday

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  • So it becomes better for criminal transactions? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Thursday November 11, 2021 @10:15PM (#61980333)

    Excellent. The earlier BC and other coin-crap gets outlawed world-wide, the better.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Moryath ( 553296 )
      Wow, the bitcoin pushers are digging into their alt farms for downmod points fast.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Wow, the bitcoin pushers are digging into their alt farms for downmod points fast.

        Not anymore. They can only sneak in down-votes late now it seems. Like any group of assholes on the way out. Not that I care, I have Karma to burn.

    • federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison for laundering

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by rehashed1984 ( 4318117 )
      So you think that the USA should be more like China, and ban things they dont like?

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        So you think that the USA should be more like China, and ban things they dont like?

        Here is news for you: Facilitating crime is already banned, even in the US. At least if you are not a cop or a president....

    • Ban cash too just to be safe, I hear criminals use it. Also credit cards. Wheelbarrows of produce should be the only acceptable currency. How many bushels of corn is the new iPhone?

      • Ban cash too just to be safe, I hear criminals use it. Also credit cards. Wheelbarrows of produce should be the only acceptable currency. How many bushels of corn is the new iPhone?

        Depends, is it GMO?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Ban cash too just to be safe, I hear criminals use it. Also credit cards. Wheelbarrows of produce should be the only acceptable currency. How many bushels of corn is the new iPhone?

        Bullshit. Cash cannot be transferred electronically. Incidentally, cash transactions are seriously limited in many countries already and especially in the US the cops can impound cash that you cannot explain satisfactorily (and sometimes also cash that you _can_ explain and that is perfectly legitimate).

        • Huh? I can buy a fuck-ton of drugs or hookers with cash. Not so much Bitcoin, they will tell me to fuck off.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by gweihir ( 88907 )

            Huh?
            I can buy a fuck-ton of drugs or hookers with cash. Not so much Bitcoin, they will tell me to fuck off.

            You may be able to for drugs. But it you try to cross a border with that cash or some cops find you are carrying it, you may be in deep crap.

            As to hookers, nobody cares. Were hooking is illegal the cops occasionally stage some symbolic raid, and of course they will extort some of them for free services (which is pretty close to rape and should be treated as such), but essentially hookers are an accepted fact and nobody in law enforcement cares much.

            • So the crimes you're ok with, it's the international travel you have a problem with?

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by gweihir ( 88907 )

                Do you have a reading dysfunctionality? What I described was the reality of things, not my opinion.

                • You complained about criminal transactions and then went on to describe issues related to international travel, not crime. Decide what you don't like about it.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        Ban cash too just to be safe, I hear criminals use it.

        it's effectively banned in the US. The police have, in most states, legal right to seize any amount of cash.

        The lawmakers call it "Civil Asset Forfeiture", the police call it "free money". All the cops have to do is stop you for any reason - legal or illegal. They can ask how much cash you have, take it all and that's it. You can sue to get it back, but it often will cost you more. But you can try, and maybe you'll get lucky and they'll cut you a deal -

    • Excellent. The earlier BC and other coin-crap gets outlawed world-wide, the better.

      Of course. Even Bitcoin understands its core competence even if its supporters don't.

      • "Stop anthropomorphizing me." - Bitcoin

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Indeed. And since money-laundering only works if you have enough other "investors", all the morons are welcome. Especially since you can get additional revenue from a little pump&dump.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kipsate ( 314423 )
      Outlaw, why exactly? By far most people use bitcoin for perfectly legitimate reasons but yes, bitcoin can also be used by criminals. Do you believe say knives and cash should be outlawed as well?

  • And if thereâ(TM)s a problem with itâ (Score:3)

    by boxless ( 35756 ) on Thursday November 11, 2021 @10:23PM (#61980353)

    Who do I call when something goes wrong? Where is the bitcoin call center, exactly? If I get fleeced of my life savings by someone in this tangled web, where can I file a complaint? Is there a court that I can make a case to?

    No. But isnâ(TM)t it wonderful? Itâ(TM)s all anonymous! Weâ(TM)re all sticking it to the man! Weâ(TM)re all living our adolescent John Galt fantasies! Vive la revolution!

    Pure lunacy.

  • That it all goes horribly wrong?

    >:D

    • That it all goes horribly wrong? >:D

      Nope. ;)

    • No. You are one of the many that keep reading Slashdot during your dreadful 9-5 job breaks.

      If you were a little bit more open-minded, you'd be sailing your private yacht right now.

      Greetings from Nuku Hiva.

    • Re:Am I the only one that hopes.. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Jeremi ( 14640 ) on Friday November 12, 2021 @01:38AM (#61980621) Homepage

      I'm not hoping anything, but I am rather amazed that it hasn't gone horribly wrong already by now.

      Based on the history of, well, every non-trivial piece of software ever shipped (and especially first-of-its-kind software offerings), one would have expected a flaw in the Bitcoin algorithm to have been found and exploited as soon as Bitcoins were worth enough money to make it worth someone's while to do so, at which point everyone would lose their investment and the value of Bitcoins would drop to zero.

      The fact that that has not happened, despite Bitcoins now being worth tens of thousands of dollars apiece, is a testament to the skills of the algorithm designer(s). Bravo!

      • Anything that bad happens and they just roll it back. Yes they will lose a few days of transactions but big deal. There's nothing amazing about it.
        • Who's they? I thought it supposed to be decentralized and no one has control over it. Now I'm confused.
          • Are you serious? I can't tell if you're trolling but the answer is consensus, that's the whole point of blockchain, derpity derp derp derp...

            • I'm still confused. You're saying if there's a consensus they can roll it back and wipe out my transactions? And you say it like its a good thing?

              • Yes, and it's a good thing. Sorry if you don't like it, you can fuck off I guess.

                • I just like it confirmed that peoples love of crypto/bitcoin is a selfish one. There's big talk about how it will change the world, but really it boils down to 'it will change the world by sending more money my way'.

                  Eat the rich, as they say.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

                "Distributed trust" means that decisions are made by consensus. If a majority of the computational power decides they're going to go back to the first block in the chain (or any other block) and go from there, then that's the way it is. If they decide they're going to change the protocol to include smart contract support, there it is. If they decide a deflationary currency is a bad idea and bitcoins should be in infinite supply, let it be done.

      • Oh there were found quit a few bugs in the bitcoin software. I guess it's just not the mainstream fuzz to the broken wheel. For example there was a bug back in 2010 that cused 184 billion bitcoins to be created in a single block. Quit recently in 2018, there was another inflation bug discovered which could miners exploit to print out more bitcoins than the 21mil cap. There was also a history of exploiting the algorithm by double spent attack, e.g. employee at cex.io used double spent attack to game the lott

  • Wrong link in article (Score:4, Insightful)

    by pradeepsekar ( 793666 ) on Thursday November 11, 2021 @10:40PM (#61980393)

    The link in the article leads to the Mars Perseverence rover.

    A better link would be https://bitcoinmagazine.com/te... [bitcoinmagazine.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Nugoo ( 1794744 )
      Thanks! I wasn't planning on reading the article, but now that I know it's actually about the Perseverence rover, I decided to click through and read it.
  • When a certain number of blocks are minded doesn't that mean a handful of large miners can easily control what happens on the blockchain?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kaenneth ( 82978 )

      Miners can't do anything without the nodes and users.

      If a group of miners try to harm bitcoin, it just makes a low value fork, like BCH.

    • It's just this feature. The nodes have to agree for a change to happen (otherwise the network becomes split). For this particular feature, it was stated beforehand "after block X, the new features become active." For nodes who don't agree with the change, they become a split off network.

      It's mostly not about CPU power. If a powerful miner has a lot of CPU but no one else wants to connect to him, then his transactions won't be accepted by anyone else, even if he calculates them the fastest. Likewise, if you

      • Where does this put the legal responsibility of BitCoin brokers like EToro, RobinHood, Coinbase, etc...

        Do they follow the fork or the original or both?

    • One would assume anyone who is actually paying for their electricity would make sure they’re running the most up-to-date version of the Bitcoin software, lest they waste electricity mining Bitcoins they can’t actually sell.

      My guess is a miner would realize right away that something is wrong, because the mining difficulty would drop significantly if you were still mining on the old fork.

  • Taproot will also introduce TAMBEM: There's a Mug Born Every Minute

  • The link in your article goes to a CNN story about mars rocks... not crypto

    At least that's something material and tangible.

  • Bitcoin development continues at a snail's pace. Schnorr Signatures have been in the works for, what, four years? That's even worse than the EF (though not by much).

    Complete garbage.

  • I love how there is no actual conversation about the new utilities, function, upgrade etc. It's just "I love bitcoin" "I hate bitcoin".

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