Fixing a bug that will destroy Bitcoin will (eventually) lead to a hard fork
The Bug
Hard Fork
'Ossification' of the protocol
According to forecasts, in the year 2106, buying Bitcoins it will suddenly stop working if it continues to run on the code that the network is running today. The good news is that the detected bug is easy to fix.
This is an issue that Bitcoin developers have known for many years, even since 2012, according to Bitcoin Core founder and Blockstream co-founder Pieter Wuille. For some developers, the Bitcoin bug potentially emphasizes the limitations of Bitcoin decentralization, as the community needs to come together to fix it.
The Bug
The bug is simple. Bitcoin blocks are the containers inside where transactions are stored. Each Bitcoin block has a number that keeps track of how many blocks are coming before it.
But due to a limitation revolving around how block height numbers are stored, Bitcoin will run out of block numbers after 5101541. In other words, about 86 years in the future, it will be impossible to generate new blocks.
Hard Fork
Transformation requires what is known as a “hard fork,” the most challenging method of making change in a blockchain. Hard forks are complicated because they are not backwards compatible, requiring anyone using a Bitcoin node or miner to update their software.
Those that will not be left behind in the old version of Bitcoin are incapable of any business. Although some blockchains, such as Ethereum, are regularly hard fork, this path is not obviously applicable.
The last time a hard Bitcoin was attempted, in 2017, a heated debate emerged. Many see this as an attempt to force the community to update, which is not exactly in line with the ethics of Bitcoin decentralization.
Consequently, when many people in Bitcoin hear the “hard fork”, they think of a centralized force aimed at implementing change. However, this hard-fix hard fork is in contrast to the more popular Bitcoin hard fork attempt.
The community and developers are likely to agree that this is a change that needs to be made. After all, anyone who chooses not to update their software will end up running a dead Bitcoin chain.
'Ossification' of the protocol
Gustavo J. Flores, head of Product and Research Department of Bitcoin tech startup Veriphi, said the Bitcoin bug carries a limit on Bitcoin's "protocol ossification". Taking the idea of soft cartilage hardening in the bone over time, the ossification of the protocol means that Bitcoin will be harder to change as it takes longer.
The reason Bitcoin technologies think ossification is a good quality is because it is a sign that the system is really decentralized that the community wants. “However, this bug makes it desirable to coordinate a difficult fork to fix it, because we all want Bitcoin to survive that deadline,” Flores said.
