Segwit Reading Assignment

Blockchain and Bitcoin 101
#2550

Answers:

  1. The proposed alternative to Segwit was increasing the block size to allow for more transactions. In fact, the proposed alternative was implemented via a hard-fork that resulted in the creation of Bitcoin Cash;
  2. Segwit solved the scaling issue but also solved a problem called transaction malleability (i.e. which was the original problem Segwit was meant for). Transaction malleability was a bug that allowed anyone to make small changes, which resulted in a new transaction ID and subsequent hash. By removing the signature (i.e. “Segregated Witness”) and storing outside the block the transaction ID could not be changed and more space was then available to include a greater number of transactions in a block;
  3. Segwit and Lightening Network are connected as Segwit allowed for development of such second layer protocols. The fix allowed second layer solutions, which relied on unconfirmed transactions, less risky and easier to design.
  4. People, wallets and other services are not forced to use Segwit.
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#2551

What was a proposed alternative to Segwit?

The most commonly proposed alternative was to increase the blocksize from 1 to 2 MB.

What did Segwit solve more than just the scaling issue?

It also stopped transaction malleability by removing the signature from the hash, which was th only part of the transaction that was malleable.

How is Segwit and the Lightning network connected?

Segwit enabled the development of lightning network by fixing the malleability issue which is important for features that rely on larger number of unconfirmed transactions.

Are people, wallets and other services forced to use Segwit?

It is not a must - the issue without segwit is that blocks can still only contain less transactions resulting in much higher fees for non-segwit blocks.

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#2552

1. What was a proposed alternative to Segwit?
A proposed alternative was to implement larger block sizes. Hard fork Bitcoin Cash has implemented this alternative.

2. What did Segwit solve more than just the scaling issue?
Segwit also solved transaction malleability. It was possible to change small details that modified the transaction ID and the hash. This prevented the development of second layer protocols and smart contracts.

3. How is Segwit and the Lightning network connected?
Because of the SegWit protocol update it is easier to develop second layer protocols such as the lightning network which further boosts the transaction capacity by taking small, frequent transactions off-chain.

4. Are people, wallets and other services forced to use Segwit?
Nobody is forced to use SegWit because there are hard forks such as Bitcoin cash. They where not in consensus with the SegWit protocol update and chose to split the chain and increase blocksize to 2 MB. It is also possible to make transactions the old way on Bitcoin as well.

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#2553
  1. Increasing the Block Size.
  2. The transaction malleability and lowers the fees.
  3. Segwit supports the second layer solution which is lightning network.
  4. No, but they are improving their system to be Segwit friendly.
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#2554

  1. What was a proposed alternative to Segwit?
    To increase the Block Size

  2. What did Segwit solve more than just the scaling issue?
    Segwit solved the issue of Txn malleability.

  3. How is Segwit and the Lightning network connected?
    Lightning network is a second layer protocol which is built upon Segwit which makes it possible to create many more Txn.

  4. Are people, wallets and other services forced to use Segwit?
    No, Old transactions still can be used.

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#2555
  1. What was a proposed alternative to Segwit?

The proposed alternative is to increase the block size limit

  1. What did Segwit solve more than just the scaling issue?

Beside scaling, Segwit fix transaction malleability issues and reduces security risk. The reduced block size resulted in improve propagation time to the nodes in the network, low transaction fee and avoid development of hard fork.

  1. How is Segwit and the Lightning network connected?

Lightning network is a second layer protocol that indented to enable fast transactions for making micropayments of cryptocurrency. Segwit enabled second layer solutions in Lightning network to perform as intended fixing the transaction malleability to ensure the safety of the funds and to help network propagate faster and smoothly.

  1. Are people, wallets and other services forced to use Segwit?

Segwit is optional, no one is forced to adopt Segwit mandatory. Since it is a soft fork, Segwit upgrade is backward compatible with the previous nodes.

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#2556
  1. What was a proposed alternative to Segwit?
  • The proposed alternative to Segwit is to increase the block size.
  1. What did Segwit solve more than just the scaling issue?
  • Solve two problems which are when the block is full by lowering fees and remove signature and malleability
  1. How is Segwit and the Lightning network connected?
  • Segwit support the development of the second layer protocols which is Lightning network by fixing the malleability of any feature that relied on unconfirmed transactions less risky and easier to design.
  1. Are people, wallets and other services forced to use Segwit?
  • No, is not forced to use Segwit, but without Segwit the transaction will still go less with a higher fees.
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#2557
  1. Increasing the block size to greater than 1mB.
  2. It allows for future developments on layer 2 including the lightning network, and smart contacts.
  3. It was too risky to implement the lightning network without a solution to the malleability transactions as users could alter transaction ID, due to a change in signature data, post transaction.
  4. No they are not forced to use it but most wallets were being upgraded for it and the core network was updating to allow for SegWit but it was a soft fork.
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#2558

  • What was a proposed alternative to Segwit?
    The alternative to segwit is to increase in blocksize.

  • What did Segwit solve more than just the scaling issue?
    Segwit solved the problem of transaction malleability. Also created a platform for lighting network.

  • How are Segwit and the Lightning network connected?
    The lighting network is a solution to cryptocurrency scaling, which is built upon bitcoin blockchain. By reducing the safety risk, segwit has allowed the transmission of fast and cheap transactions.

  • Are people, wallets, and other services forced to use Segwit?
    No person is obliged to use segwit. Instead, there are two sections of a community, one with segwit blocks and the other with non-segwit blocks.

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#2559

The blocks are no different its only the transactions that are different and both segwit and legacy tx can fit on the same block. :slight_smile:

#2560
  1. What was a proposed alternative to Segwit?
    larger block size limit
  2. What did Segwit solve more than just the scaling issue?
    2.1 More transactions in the same size Block.
    2.2 supports the development of second layer protocols
    2.3 malleability fix made any feature that relied on unconfirmed transactions less risky and easier to design.
    2.4 lightning network will further boost bitcoin’s transaction capacity by taking frequent, small transactions off-chain.
    2.5 SegWit activation also boosted development work on other features.
  3. How is Segwit and the Lightning network connected?
    The malleability fix made any feature that relied on unconfirmed transactions less risky and easier to design. lightning network would further boost bitcoin’s transaction capacity by taking frequent, small transactions off-chain, only settling on the bitcoin blockchain when the users are ready.
  4. Are people, wallets and other services forced to use Segwit?
    It was decided to adopt the SegWit into the BitCoin Protocol and that Forced two main situations.
    4.1 People that did not believe in the SegWit solution broke out (Fork) and created a new BlockChain. (Example: Bitcoin Cash)
    4.2 The ones that excepted it started to adopt SegWit into their Protocol but needed time to develop and incorporate it. Creating in the short time a lag in adoption.
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#2561
  1. Increase in block size.
  2. It fixed the transaction malleability.
  3. It makes second layer solutions possible.
  4. No, it is a soft fork.
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#2562

  1. What was a proposed alternative to Segwit?
    Block Size increase = Bitcoin Cash

  2. What did Segwit solve more than just the scaling issue?
    It solved Transaction ID malleability.

  3. How is Segwit and the Lightning network connected?
    Segwit allows the development of second layer protocols such as lightening Networks.

  4. Are people, wallets and other services forced to use Segwit?
    No, because Segwit is a soft fork, so old tx blocks are not excluded.

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#2563

Thanks @Alko89
By segwit blocks, I mean the part of a community that has accepted the protocol update
and by non-segwit, a community that hasn’t accepted the protocol update just as bitcoin cash.
Please correct me if I’m in error.

#2564
  1. What was a proposed alternative to Segwit?

One proposed alternative to Segwit was to increase the blocksize from 1 MB to 2 MB but due to the growth of bitcoin it wouldnt be long until 2MB was facing the same issues as 1MB, also increasing the size could lead to propogation taking longer and the chance of Stale blocks and forks also increase. It did lead to a hard fork, bitcoin cash, which opted for the route of increasing block sizes.

  1. What did Segwit solve more than just the scaling issue?

Segwit also solved the problem of TX Mallebility as signatures and small details could be changed resulting in a different tx id (and hash). Having the signatures stored outside the block, even if you changed the signature the transaction hash would stay the same.

  1. How is Segwit and the Lightning network connected?

Segwit allowed the development of second layer protocols. Lightning network is a second layer protocol and the lightning network takes frequent, small transactions off of the blockchain, and only puts them on the blockchain when users are ready to do so.

  1. Are people, wallets and other services forced to use Segwit?

No as it was only a soft fork, and still compatible with the old protocol, but a lot of wallets and nodes are implementing it.

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#2565

  1. What was a proposed alternative to Segwit?
    Increasing the block size which led to the hard fork that created Bitcoin Cash.

  2. What did Segwit solve more than just the scaling issue?
    It also fixed the issue of transaction malleabillity so that no one could change the transaction ID now as the signature removal would be a new hash while leaving the transaction ID in tact.

  3. How is Segwit and the Lightning network connected?
    Segwit’s transaction malleability fix made it easier and less risky to layer Lightning protocol on.

  4. Are people, wallets and other services forced to use Segwit?
    No but not using Segwit will slow down the progress that it can make (speeding up transactions being a main one) if everyone uses it.

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#2566

No, you can still use old style txs on bitcoin just fine. :slight_smile:

#2567

  1. Increasing the block size.

  2. Transaction malleability.

  3. The lightning network boost bitcoin’s transaction capacity by taking frequent, small transactions off-chain, only settling on the bitcoin blockchain when the users are ready.

  4. No

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#2568

  1. What was a proposed alternative to Segwit?
    Increasing the blocksize

  2. What did Segwit solve more than just the scaling issue?
    that the transactions wigh less, which means that bitcoin can process greater output

  3. How is Segwit and the Lightning network connected?
    Due to the development of segwit it supports development of second layer protocols, the lighting network is a second layer protocol.

  4. Are people, wallets and other services forced to use Segwit?
    No, people and/or miners could have gone over to BCH which utilizes the larger block size limit. At the time of writing the article a lot of the transactions were without the segwit style transactions (approx. 86%) , so 14% with the segwit style transaction. As of today 21-01-2021 the percentage of segwit style transactions increased to 67%*.

*source: https://transactionfee.info/charts/payments-spending-segwit/

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#2569
  1. An alternative to Segwit was making a hard fork update which increased the block size limit(BTC Cash)
  2. It also solved the malleability issue.
  3. Lighting is a second layer protocol on top of the Bitcoin blockchain, Segwit allowed this protocol to be implemented by solving the transaction malleability problem.
  4. No, it’s a soft fork.
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