As Bitcoin XT forces itself into existence, the traditional digital currency followers have seemingly turned their backs on it.
The controversial Bitcoin hard fork — as reported by QNTRA — has been unable to mine even a single block since its launch on Saturday, indicating a low adoption rate from the miners. A possible reason for this ignorance could be the negative public opinions on the new client, considering it is launched without forming a proper consensus — a factor that goes well against the ethos of the Bitcoin community.
The reason why a well-nurtured community is now on the verge of partition revolves around a small conflict: whether or not to authorize blockchain — the Bitcoin’s public ledger system — to validate block sizes greater than 1 MB. If a majority of the mining community decide to choose Bitcoin XT over its controversial predecessor Bitcoin Core, then it would simply make the older mined Bitcoins incompatible on the new blockchain.
Meanwhile, the backer of this proposal — Bitcoin Foundation’s chief scientist Gavin Andresen and developer Mike Hearn — have proposed a consensus-based solution. It says that: if a 75% of the computing power decides to join the Bitcoin XT network, then the remaining 25% will have two weeks to switch from their older systems. With Bitcoin Core, the current limit is 95%.
There is no guarantee: whether or not a majority of miners would move to the new forked Bitcoin client. But the confidence the digital currency’s stability is definitely suffering as of this moment. We can duly note this in the bearish price action in the Bitcoin markets.
The uncertainty can be the only reason why miners are boycotting Bitcoin XT for now.
