Mar 7 2017, 07:48 PM
QUOTE(wengherng @ Mar 7 2017, 03:03 PM)
In very simplified terms, yes, it would become something like ETH and ETC.
But actually there were very specific sets of circumstances that allowed both ethereum forks to remain in existence in parallel to each other, which bitcoin *might* not experience (nobody really knows for sure).
For example, if enough percentage of voters went ahead with Core (e.g. 95% as Wootz mentioned), then all of a sudden, you have two "bitcoin chains", one with 95% of the hashing power, the other (Unlimited) only with 5%.
Imagine, with only 5% of the computing power on Unlimited trying to do all the mining and transacting, and with algorithm-difficulty adjustment happening only once roughly every two weeks, we would suddenly see hundreds of thousands of transactions going in queue, confirmation times will become incredibly long, and it could be months before the adjustment becomes fully normalised and the backlog cleared, by which time, most people would have abandoned Unlimited as it is just too impractical to use anymore, which means the price will drop to the abyss and finally nobody wants to be holding these coins anymore.
Not to mention the fact that miners on Unlimited will be under extreme risk of a 51% attack from Core if they wanted to, and also it is important to note that miners mining on Unlimited can only spend the newly mined coins within Unlimited, which makes it extremely unattractive financially.
If you were a miner who spent tens of thousands of dollars on hardware and trying to recoup your investments, it definitely makes financial sense for you to always go with the majority, and you are not going to waste your time and resources doing worthless work that doesn't earn you back your investments.
The same for businesses and also large corporations accepting bitcoins and involved in the blockchain, they will have to make a decision on which one to adopt finally. Again, it makes business sense to go for the majority/more popular one.
HOWEVER, for the casual user like you and me, we will probably not notice any great differences in terms of usage or trading.
Well, maybe your hardware wallet provider might need to update its software, but that's about it.
When the dust settles, then you can decide whether to use your coins on Core or Unlimited (but once you make the first transaction, it will permanently mark the coins as either Core or Unlimited, and there's no turning back).
Sorry for the long post, but I suppose that addresses your concerns?
But actually there were very specific sets of circumstances that allowed both ethereum forks to remain in existence in parallel to each other, which bitcoin *might* not experience (nobody really knows for sure).
For example, if enough percentage of voters went ahead with Core (e.g. 95% as Wootz mentioned), then all of a sudden, you have two "bitcoin chains", one with 95% of the hashing power, the other (Unlimited) only with 5%.
Imagine, with only 5% of the computing power on Unlimited trying to do all the mining and transacting, and with algorithm-difficulty adjustment happening only once roughly every two weeks, we would suddenly see hundreds of thousands of transactions going in queue, confirmation times will become incredibly long, and it could be months before the adjustment becomes fully normalised and the backlog cleared, by which time, most people would have abandoned Unlimited as it is just too impractical to use anymore, which means the price will drop to the abyss and finally nobody wants to be holding these coins anymore.
Not to mention the fact that miners on Unlimited will be under extreme risk of a 51% attack from Core if they wanted to, and also it is important to note that miners mining on Unlimited can only spend the newly mined coins within Unlimited, which makes it extremely unattractive financially.
If you were a miner who spent tens of thousands of dollars on hardware and trying to recoup your investments, it definitely makes financial sense for you to always go with the majority, and you are not going to waste your time and resources doing worthless work that doesn't earn you back your investments.
The same for businesses and also large corporations accepting bitcoins and involved in the blockchain, they will have to make a decision on which one to adopt finally. Again, it makes business sense to go for the majority/more popular one.
HOWEVER, for the casual user like you and me, we will probably not notice any great differences in terms of usage or trading.
Well, maybe your hardware wallet provider might need to update its software, but that's about it.
When the dust settles, then you can decide whether to use your coins on Core or Unlimited (but once you make the first transaction, it will permanently mark the coins as either Core or Unlimited, and there's no turning back).
Sorry for the long post, but I suppose that addresses your concerns?
QUOTE(WooTz @ Mar 7 2017, 03:52 PM)
Nope, Ethereum fork was a special case, mostly due to its dynamic difficulty adjustment at every block, which is every 14-16 seconds. That's why miners can still mine it and reap sizable rewards without much effort.
Bitcoin difficulty readjustment however comes every 2 weeks, and since the main use case for BTC is store of value, you can expect the minority chain to collapse long before the difficulty readjustment comes.
The ETC chain can be used to deploy cheap and nonsense contracts without intervention from the Ethereum Foundation, which is currently teaming up with EEA to work on maintaining and growing the ETH chain, so it isn't completely useless at all. That's why it's still listed on the coin rankings, so shameless.
Thx both for the long explanation. I'm still at blockchain kindergarten level. Bitcoin difficulty readjustment however comes every 2 weeks, and since the main use case for BTC is store of value, you can expect the minority chain to collapse long before the difficulty readjustment comes.
The ETC chain can be used to deploy cheap and nonsense contracts without intervention from the Ethereum Foundation, which is currently teaming up with EEA to work on maintaining and growing the ETH chain, so it isn't completely useless at all. That's why it's still listed on the coin rankings, so shameless.
Had to see a video of basics of blockchain for dummies too. 
Just read the link wengherng provided and I must say that even though I just understood probably 10% of the content, it is just like any other issues in this world where people just can't seem to agree with each other. Disagreement leading to arguments leading to factions and later war.......
I guess this is inevitable due to the decentralized nature of bitcoin and the fact that nobody owns it.Whatever it is, I think I will not dive too much into the technicality of bitcoin. It is a whole field by itself.
Wow! Bitcoin just had a flash crash just now. Now recovering. No ETF news yet......
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