Bitcoin core developer Jeff Garzik has proposed increasing bitcoin’s block size limit to 2MB.
Blocks – which are created every 10 minutes – currently hold only 1MB of transactions each. However, if the bitcoin network is to scale competitively it will need to exceed the three to seven transactions per second it currently supports.
With the 1MB limit looking to be reached within the next few months, Garzik says his proposal, BIP 102, is an emergency ‘fallback’ if consensus among bitcoin’s stakeholders is not reached.
“If we can find a more complete solution, yes, by all means, let’s throw BIP 102 in the trash,” the developer told Reddit.
Gavin Andresen first proposed to increase the block size to 20MB earlier this year. The idea has since sparked a highly politicised debate among fellow core developers and the wider community.
While some think the limited space for transactions in each block will create a market for fees, others have warned doing nothing could disrupt the robustness of – and people’s trust in – bitcoin.