Some Bitcoin users may have heard of the Gigablock testnet. This project is designed to allow a theoretical block size of up to 1 gigabyte. Such a massive block size would certainly shake things up for the Bitcoin ecosystem as a whole. Researchers have successfully mined the world’s first 1GB block on this testnet. It is a major milestone for this particular project, to say the very least.
It is quite remarkable to take note of the Gigablock testnet initiative. Although it’s doubtful Bitcoin will ever need 1GB blocks, researching the concept is a viable course of action. So far significant progress is being made in this regard. The initiative has been around for about a month now, which is a small milestone in its own regard. The big news, however, is how the first one-gigabyte block has been mined on the testnet. It will be interesting to see how this affects Bitcoin moving forward.
A big Milestone for Gigablock
It is certainly an interesting turn of events. Scalability of Bitcoin has been a topic of substantial debate over the past few weeks. Bitcoin Unlimited and the University of British Columbia backed this project a while ago. Testing the boundaries of Bitcoin scalability is an interesting venture, to say the very least. Even though Bitcoin Cash introduces 8MB blocks, they are hardly ever full these days. Upping the size to 1GB makes very little sense in this regard, to say the very least. Then again, it is an option worth exploring, even though it’s not really useful right now.
One benefit to higher block sizes is how they reduce congestion. Moreover, they allow for lower transaction fees as well. A 1GB block size is not necessarily sustainable in the future, though. After all, the Bitcoin block size would grow pretty significantly if this block size were to be embraced. That will introduce a whole new set of problems, to say the very least. After all, a 1GB block every 10 minutes would create a massive blockchain size in the end.
Surprisingly enough, the Gigablock team will introduce dedicated mining nodes. They will be set up in various countries around the world. With these nodes, the tram can effectively figure out any remaining bottlenecks and how they need to be addressed. It is an interesting concept. Moreover, any Gigablock findings may be introduced to Bitcoin Cash alter on. Assuming that is the case, the future looks pretty interesting for this altcoin.
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