Should Full Replace-By-Fee Be Merged Into Bitcoin Core?

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In this episode of “Bitcoin, Explained,” hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost review the replace-by-fee (RBF) node policy. As they discussed in episode 65, the upcoming Bitcoin Core release– Bitcoin Core 24.0– consists of the alternative to turn on “complete RBF,” however this has actually considering that triggered some turmoil in the Bitcoin neighborhood. Van Wirdum and Provoost describe what this turmoil has actually had to do with and highlight a few of the brand-new arguments for and versus complete RBF.

RBF has actually been the subject of an earlier “Bitcoin, Explained” episode, for that reason, van Wirdum and Provoost do not enter into a thorough description on what RBF is precisely or how it works. Nevertheless, they do quickly summarize its crucial elements.

Van Wirdum and Provoost then go on to describe why Bitcoin Core designers initially chose to include this function, and they talk about a few of the current arguments for and versus complete RBF. These consist of the result of RBF on “pinning attacks”– a kind of attack that is particularly appropriate for the Lightning Network and other Layer 2 procedures– the relative security of accepting unofficial deals today, privacy-related arguments worrying the “opt-in” flag that RBF deals presently utilize, the harmful results of keeping track of the network for possible double invests and more.

Van Wirdum and Provoost likewise talk about the benefits and drawbacks of consisting of RBF as an optional function and therefore letting node operators choose on their own how their node handle contrasting unofficial deals. Provoost details why, sometimes, offering users more alternatives might have harmful results on the health of the Bitcoin network, and thinks about whether the alternative to consist of the RBF alternative is such a case.

Lastly, van Wirdum and Provoost briefly talk about an effort by full-RBF supporter Peter Todd to incentivize miners to use full-RBF reasoning to their deal choice.