In less than a week on May 15, the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network will be upgrading the base block size from 8MB to 32MB, as well as re-enabling and adding some OP_Codes to the codebase. With just days left there are a few things BCH holders and full node operators should know before the upgrade takes place this coming Tuesday.
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Just a Few Days Left Until the May 15th Bitcoin Cash Upgrade
The Bitcoin Cash network is about to perform the largest block size increase ever as the upgrade will expand the block size by 4X on May 15, 2018. The development team has also added ‘Satoshi OP_Codes,’ and the fork will also increase the protocol’s default data-carrier-size to 220 bytes. Unless you run a BCH full node implementation there is not much a common user needs to do, except refrain from transacting during the upgrade.
The Hard Fork Activation Will Use the Median Time Past Method
The BCH fork on May 15 will be similar to the fork activations that took place on August 1, and the DAA fork that took place this past November. This means the activation will take place on May 15, but there won’t be specific block height, because the upgrade will activate based on ‘Median Time Past’ (MTP). The initiation of the hard fork will begin on Tuesday, May 15 at 12:00:00 UTC, 2018, but the upgrade will not be implemented until the MTP timestamp and the processing of 11 blocks equal to or greater than 1,526,400,000 takes place. Following this period after the next block, the 32MB upgrade will be live on the BCH network.
Full Node Clients and Miners Must Update Software
Full node operators need to upgrade their Bitcoin Cash clients as soon as possible, before the fork begins. ABC users can download the latest Bitcoin ABC 0.17.1 version here, and those operating other full nodes like Bitcoin Unlimited, or XT should upgrade to the client that supports the 32MB increase. At the moment looking at data for the most dominant BCH client, Bitcoin ABC, it shows a great majority of nodes have already upgraded to the latest 0.17.1 ABC version. Full node operators and miners are required to upgrade their software in order to participate during and after the network change.
Ordinary Users Should Refrain from Transacting With BCH During the Upgrade and Patiently Wait for the Fork to Complete
Ordinary users don’t have to do much of anything, except keep up to date with current events concerning the fork, and its best not to transact during the activation period as well. This means if you don’t have to send money on May 15, then wait until the fork is complete before transacting with BCH. It’s always a good measure to look out for any updates provided by your exchange or wallet provider to make sure the platform you use is ready to accept the network changes. If your BCH service provider does not give any fork updates, it’s probably safe to assume that the exchange or wallet provider is ready for the upgrade. So on May 15 if your money is on an exchange or held within a non-custodial wallet all you really have to do is patiently wait until the fork is finished.
Last November’s Successful Hard Fork Shows There Shouldn’t be Any Complications
The May 15th Bitcoin Cash fork that will change the protocol’s base block size to 32 MB, while adding some other interesting features will be quite a milestone for the BCH community. The last fork that took place this November was successful, and the new Difficulty Adjustment Algorithm (DAA) has worked flawlessly ever since. The 32MB increase will be much larger than the already sizable 8MB blocks, and the upgrade will likely be a historic day for public blockchain consensus upgrades.
What do you think about the fork taking place on May 15 that will increase the base block size to 32 MB? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments below.
Images via Shutterstock, and Pixabay.
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