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r/bitcoinismoney
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Pleb's view / questions on Miner's View on BIP110

Preface

I am pleb, so this may very well be pleb slop. Please help me become more better pleb. Note I am not trying to argue who's right here, just trying to understand / make sense of what a miner might do, their motivations, or how they may view this logically, i.e. removed from whatever ideological alignments / nuances or whatever there are.

Some Heading I don't know what to call

Looking at the "Current Node Implementation Distribution" on The Bitcoin Portal, it says:

  1. Bitcoin Core v30+ at about 26%
  2. Knots about 22%
  3. Bitcoin Core < v30 at about 50%

https://thebitcoinportal.com/live/nodes/overview

  • I don't know if those numbers are accurate so let's take them for what they are worth.
  • Let's assume the defaults are the rule, op_return specifically as that's seems to be what most of the fuss is about and got many people's titties in a twist.
  • Let's just keep it simple for my pleb brain and refer to small and large op_return, i.e. the defaults pre/post Core v30.
  • Let's call every Core < v30 "Old Core", and roll BIP110 into "Knots" (I know the numbers don't support this one, but bear with me).
  • Admittedly, yes lots of assumptions here, little nuance and probably incorrect statements, but let's roll with it, hopefully I'll learn something.

Transaction relay and Mempool

In terms of small vs. large op_returns:

Bitcoin Core v30+ nodes relay 100% of transactions, i.e. small and large op_return, and adds them to their mempools, 26% of nodes

Old Core and Knots nodes relays only transactions with small op_return and add them to their mempools, 72% of nodes

Question 1: Looking at the above, my immediate pleb thought is if I were a miner and I want to maximize the speed and reach of the transactions I broadcast (submitted directly to me), should I not only use small op_returns? Because then 100% of the nodes mentioned above will relay them, while if I add large ones, only 26% of the nodes will relay them?

Question 2: I know both miners and nodes validate and relay transactions, but I assume miners care about the transactions submitted to them directly being relayed as far and wide as possible as it will increase their block propagation speed. Is this assumption correct or garbage? If garbage, please explain why?

Blocks

In terms of small vs. large op_returns:

Bitcoin Core v30+ nodes will accept / validate and relay 100% of blocks containing small and large op_return, 26% of nodes

Old Core nodes will accept / validate and relay 100% of blocks containing small and large op_return, 50% of nodes

Right now:

Knots nodes will accept / validate and relay 100% of blocks containing small and large op_return, 22% of nodes

After block x / whatever date:

Knots nodes will reject and not relay 100% of blocks containing large op_return, 22% of nodes (I know it's not this high, see assumptions further up)

Question 3: As a pleb trying to look at this through a miner's eyes, and taking into account the small change in fees for the large op_return transactions (there was a site where I saw this, can't remember or find it now), why would I bother? If there is any risk of a block mined being orphaned or re-orged out because of large op_return, however small, can I not reduce the chances of that happening to absolute zero by just sending small op_returns?

Be nice, still learning.

u/AlabamaHotPocketses — 6 days ago