Greg Sanders is credited with suggesting that making the witness commitment mandatory in all coinbase transactions could serve as a more manageable fix for miners. This approach, while not yet fully vetted for violations, aims to circumvent potential issues with pre-Segwit coinbase transactions that do not align with the intended use of the witness commitment for future merkle root commitments.

The suggestion highlights that no pre-Segwit coinbase transaction has been identified that follows the specific pattern of pushing the witness commitment header followed by 32 0x00 bytes, indicating that this method could maintain the integrity and purpose of the witness commitment as originally intended. Furthermore, the proposal considers using the nLockTime field as a more effective alternative for achieving similar outcomes. The argument suggests that requiring miners to adjust their software, given adequate preparation time, should not pose a significant challenge. Moreover, introducing such changes with a considerable delay—activating this part of the fork only after a predetermined period following the GCCR fork’s activation—could facilitate a smoother transition for stakeholders involved.