Is it time to increase the blocksize cap?

Jun 4 - Jun 4, 2024

  • The recent discussion highlights the significant growth of the unspent transaction output set (UTXO set), which has doubled from 5GB to 11GB within a year, as detailed on [statoshi.info](https://statoshi.info/d/000000009/unspent-transaction-output-set?orgId=1&refresh=5s&from=now-5y&to=now&viewPanel=8).

This rapid increase is outstripping the capacity improvements predicted by Moore's Law, making it increasingly difficult for low-resource hardware to maintain sync with the network. The preservation of the 1MB non-witness block size limit is currently mitigating even faster expansion of this data set.

The necessity for small merchants to operate their own nodes is emphasized as crucial for maintaining a balance of power within the network, particularly against large mining pools. Without this capability, the concept of economic nodes acting as a check on mining pool dominance is dismissed as impractical. Consequently, the suggestion to enlarge the block size is criticized for lacking seriousness and foresight in addressing the network's scalability issues. Instead, there is a call for fundamental technological advancements, like those offered by tech covenants, to provide genuine and long-lasting solutions to these challenges, rather than opting for temporary fixes that might compromise the network's future stability and integrity.

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