You’ve heard Bitcoin is a decentralized p2p system for transferring value anywhere on earth. That sounds awesome but you might be wondering:
How changes are made?
What is the process?
Who decides?
I’ve been working on Bitcoin for almost a decade, I'll break it down for you 👇
How changes are made?
What is the process?
Who decides?
I’ve been working on Bitcoin for almost a decade, I'll break it down for you 👇
Bitcoin is free and open source software meaning that anyone can view. download, review, and run the source code.
Just like any open source project it also means anyone is welcome to propose changes as long as they follow the guidelines that the project's community defines.
Just like any open source project it also means anyone is welcome to propose changes as long as they follow the guidelines that the project's community defines.
Because of the scale and impact of Bitcoin, these guidelines are more formalized than most other projects you might have been involved with.
Bitcoin defines something called a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP)
The first of which is used to define the proposal process itself.
Bitcoin defines something called a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP)
The first of which is used to define the proposal process itself.
These BIPs are technical design documents for the community to review.
They must provide all of the information necessary to describe new features for Bitcoin or for standardizing processes relevant to the ecosystem.
They also act as a place to aggregate community discussion.
They must provide all of the information necessary to describe new features for Bitcoin or for standardizing processes relevant to the ecosystem.
They also act as a place to aggregate community discussion.
Okay, so you have an awesome new feature or standard you want to propose for the Bitcoin community…now what?
Well the first step is to review the BIPs to make sure it’s not something that has already been proposed and has been rejected (or is still pending acceptance).
Well the first step is to review the BIPs to make sure it’s not something that has already been proposed and has been rejected (or is still pending acceptance).
After you’ve decided your idea is novel and worth a proposal you should first float the idea on the Bitcoin development mailing list.
This list is used by developers and other contributors to discuss all aspects of protocol development.
You’ll get great feedback on your idea.
This list is used by developers and other contributors to discuss all aspects of protocol development.
You’ll get great feedback on your idea.
If after discussing the idea on the mailing list it is largely agreed that the idea is worth pursuing then it’s time to write the first draft of the BIP.
Make sure to structure it according to the format described in BIP-2 and then share it on the mailing list to surface issues.
Make sure to structure it according to the format described in BIP-2 and then share it on the mailing list to surface issues.
After the draft BIP has been discussed on the mailing list and has been fleshed out to address any major concerns it is time to submit a request to the repository where all the BIPs live.
Editors will review your draft and if approved will be assigned an official BIP number.
Editors will review your draft and if approved will be assigned an official BIP number.
Congrats! You have created an official proposal to update Bitcoin. Now the hard part begins :)
The next phase involves getting support and consensus from the broader Bitcoin community and ecosystem that your proposal makes sense, creates value for many, and has no detrimental impacts to the core values of Bitcoin.
This is both hard to do and hard to measure directly.
This is both hard to do and hard to measure directly.
There is not a singular Bitcoin community or ecosystem.
Bitcoin is distributed and discussed all over the world and the internet.
Popular communities would be the mailing list, IRC, Twitter, Reddit, etc.
Also should seek support from businesses that operate in the ecosystem.
Bitcoin is distributed and discussed all over the world and the internet.
Popular communities would be the mailing list, IRC, Twitter, Reddit, etc.
Also should seek support from businesses that operate in the ecosystem.
It is extremely helpful in this phase to have a working implementation on a fork of the project so that regular review and discussion sessions can take place for those interested.
Even better would be examples or demos to showcase the value your proposal will generate.
Even better would be examples or demos to showcase the value your proposal will generate.
Ok so you’ve done all the work and have broad support and consensus that your change is a good idea.
The next step is getting your changes merged into the Bitcoin repository.
This involves diligent review from people capable of performing code reviews.
The next step is getting your changes merged into the Bitcoin repository.
This involves diligent review from people capable of performing code reviews.
Once all the kinks have been ironed out and people are satisfied with the code it will eventually get merged into the repository.
You’re almost there! If your change requires a soft fork then there needs to be discussion about how to activate it. That’s a thread for another day
You’re almost there! If your change requires a soft fork then there needs to be discussion about how to activate it. That’s a thread for another day
If there’s no soft fork required or if the activation method is worked out then your feature will roll out with the next major release of the Bitcoin core software.
It’s activation might depend on a majority of the network upgrading to the new version.
It’s activation might depend on a majority of the network upgrading to the new version.
I hope this helped you better understand how changes are introduced and eventually made to Bitcoin.
It’s an extremely important topic and not well understood.
There’s also still a lot of development and improvement to be made throughout all aspects of this process.
It’s an extremely important topic and not well understood.
There’s also still a lot of development and improvement to be made throughout all aspects of this process.
Please be sure to follow if you want to learn more about Bitcoin every day.
Be sure to share this with anyone you think might find it interesting.
This was a long one today so thank you for reading!
Be sure to share this with anyone you think might find it interesting.
This was a long one today so thank you for reading!
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