Bitcoin [BTC] does not need any more “contentious forks” this year: Cobra

With the cryptocurrency community divided along several lines, the Bitcoin “maximalists,” as they are referred to and those that are loyal to other forks of the coin like Bitcoin Cash [BCH] and the fledgling Bitcoin SV [BSV], often attack each other more than their other rivals.

Now, the Bitcoin.org and the Bitcointalk.org co-founder, Cobra, has come out to state that the top cryptocurrency does not need any “contentious” hardforks in 2019, running against the sentiments of many proponents who advocate a return to a smaller block size from the increased block size of BCH.

Cobra was responding to a tweet from John Carvalho, better known in the community as BitcoinErrorLog, who tweeted in agreement with Luke Dashjr, a BTC developer, stating that a reduced block size would give him more confidence especially with the Lightning Network in full flow.

His tweet in full read:

“I agree with @LukeDashjr that the block size should be smaller. I feel more confidence to say it now that we have LN making strides. I’ll run the soft fork.”

The Bitcoin.org co-founder was quick to respond to BitcoinErrorLog, calling any other change in the block size, “contentious.” He added that this change would be especially detrimental given that 2019 is a key year for BTC adoption, in light of the incoming institutional interest in the industry.

Cobra stated that even if the intention was to reduce the block size, it is nothing but a hardfork, a change to the fundamental structure of the coin. He also stated that if this “soft fork” is completed then, there will be a break away from the established consensus, and the resulting drama and damage will decrease trust in the coin and by extension, the entire cryptocurrency community.

In his own words,

“Stop this madness! Last thing Bitcoin needs is yet more contentious forks in this key year for adoption! A soft fork to “reduce the block size” is a hard fork in all but name. This will split off from the established consensus, cause massive drama, and damage trust in Bitcoin.”

BTC hard-forked back in August 2017, to give birth to Bitcoin Cash, which argued for a bigger block size among other changes. The split left the community divided as some claimed that BCH was the original intention of the coin. Roger Ver even recently called BCH what Satoshi had originally envisioned it to be.

Furthermore, advocates of a “bottomless” blocksize caused a further split in the Bitcoin Cash community leading to the formation of Bitcoin Satoshi’s Vision (BSV), spearheaded by nChain’s Craig Wright back in November 2018, causing another massive decline in the market.

With the market set to herald in institutional players, Cobra foresees that a hardfork of the coin which holds over 52 percent of the entire market, may cause a massive decrease in the price along with goodwill of the collective industry.

Some Twitter users however, were not very happy with Cobra’s criticism, with a user named Satoshi’s Disciple (B) stating:

“John is right. BTC smaller blocks will help Bitcoin.”

Another user Wecx- stated:

“This is the year of Lightning Network. A lower blocksize and higher fees will accelerate LN adoption. For Bitcoin to be a decentralized settlement layer every user must run a node and lowering the blocksize to 300kb will accomplish that. For onchain payments use Bitcoin Cash.”