["Infinity" patch for Bitcoin Core]

"Infinity" patch for Bitcoin Core

If you…

• run a full node
• are a user, not a miner
• don't particularly care how large the blocks are
• are concerned about undiscovered bugs in Bitcoin Unlimited
• want to support SegWit and larger blocks

…then this patch is for you.

This patch contains the minimal changes necessary to make Bitcoin Core accept blocks of any size (up to the overall message size limit of 32 MiB). It does this without removing or neutering the protections against blocks with excessive numbers of signature operations ("sigops"). The maximum number of sigops allowed scales linearly with the size (weight) of the block.

Blocks at or smaller than Core's current limit are treated exactly the same as by unpatched Bitcoin Core, meaning this patch will have no effect until and unless a hard fork to larger blocks occurs.

If a hard fork does occur, nodes running this patch will follow whichever chain demonstrates the most work, regardless of the sizes of the blocks in that chain. This means that nodes running this patch may diverge from nodes running unpatched Bitcoin Core. Apply this patch only if you understand and agree to bear the risks involved.

Why might you want to use this patch?

Core users: If there's a hard fork, you're going to want a way to control your BTU balance. Your Core wallet won't see BTU-only outputs. You could run an instance of Bitcoin Unlimited alongside your Bitcoin Core node to access these BTU-only outputs, but you might be concerned about bugs in Bitcoin Unlimited, and you might not want to actively participate in this whole "emergent consensus" thing. By running a second Bitcoin Core instance with this "Infinity" patch, you will be able to access your BTU balances without needing to run Bitcoin Unlimited.

Unlimited users: If you want to increase on-chain capacity, then you might want to support both SegWit and larger base blocks. Maybe you don't really know what to set "EB" and "AD" to; maybe you'd rather not have to care. If you simply want to follow whichever chain has the most work, then you don't need the complexity (and risks) of Bitcoin Unlimited. By running your node with this "Infinity" patch, you will have the best of both worlds.

Where is the patch?

You can get the patch for your preferred version of Bitcoin Core here (see the links at the bottom).

[A clarifying note:]

A clarifying note: These charts show the monetary (supply) inflation of Bitcoin. They bear no relation to price inflation, which is an entirely distinct phenomenon. When Austrian economists say "inflation," they're typically referring to monetary inflation, whereas Keynesian economists are typically referring to price inflation.

Also, please note that the top axis ("Year") on these charts is approximate, based on the scheduled block generation rate of one block per 10 minutes. The actual block generation rate has averaged a bit faster than this, due to the perpetually increasing hash rate, so we're already a little bit further progressed than the labels along the top axis would suggest. This doesn't mean there will be any more than 21M bitcoins; it only means that we'll reach the end of supply generation a little bit sooner than we would have if the hash rate had always held constant.

Bitcoin Inflation 4x3.pdf (8"×6") | Bitcoin Inflation.pdf (8½"×11")




Bitcoin Inflation logarithmic.pdf (8"×6")

Permission given to use and reproduce freely.

[Idea:]

Idea: Augment Radiant Systems' "Aloha" restaurant point-of-sale software to include a per-table Bitcoin payment QR code on every printed ticket and to credit Bitcoin payments sent to such addresses to the appropriate tables. Bit-Pay or Paysius would provide on-the-fly payment conversions to USD at a price less than processing a credit card, making the proposition attractive for restaurant owners. The QR code would include the payment address and the ticket total, making the transaction super easy for customers and staff.

Problem: There is no incentive for Radiant Systems to add Bitcoin functionality to Aloha.

Question: Does anyone know if Aloha supports third-party plugins? Does anyone here know anyone who works for Radiant Systems?

Probably everyone here knows that PayPal is horrible to eBay sellers, taking the buyer's side practically every time, and no amount of photographic evidence can convince them that you the seller really did ship the item purchased.

Enter Bitmit, an eBay clone that operates in Bitcoin. Does anyone know how fair the are with regards to their escrow service? How does a seller prove they shipped the item? How does a buyer prove they didn't get it? I'm a little hesitant to sell on Bitmit just because it is not nearly as established and "safe" as eBay.