The Bitcoin ‘Scaling Debate’
This is a good place to start if you don’t know much about ‘the scaling debate’. John Dilley’s arguments are well made, succinct and cover many topics. Don’t be put off by who he’s debating, it remains civil and constructive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=327&v=mauPP0DRtOM
Topics John Dilley covers:
- Zero confirmation transactions
- Scaling Bitcoin exponentially with Lightning network
- Benefits of Segwit
- Moral hazard of Hard v Soft fork
- SPV clients
- Bitcoin roadmap
- Block size, trust characteristics and the importance of self validation
This discussion between Peter Todd (the second half of the interview) and Gavin Andresen is also worth a listen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=KYWhShzzELg
UASF and SW2X
For understanding what “UASF” (User Accepted Soft Fork/BIP 148), “SW2X” (Segwit 2X) and the “NO2X” movement were about, I suggest this video in which John Carvalho passionately lays out the case for UASF and why SW2X was (ultimately) destined to fail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1528&v=f1c7fvTEvFk
The @BitcoinErrorLog & @brian_trollz interview gives insight into some misguided reasons why some backed SW2X…
“They [core] are not like a company that’s making decisions…” - John Carvalho
“You’re right, and that’s the problem here” - Vinny Lingham
There was a lot of ‘signalling’ and various paths to activation for Segwit, along with a couple of potential hard forks at the time. I explained the details of those in the articles below, presented in the order in which they were publised.
Explaining Segwit2X and BIP 148 (UASF) compatibility
The Road to Segwit Activation — UASF, Segwit2x and Segwit Signalling Explained
Explaining the Segwit2x Hard Fork and Bitmain’s UAHF
All roads lead to Segwit — Segwit2x, BIP 91 Segsignal and UASF