As the scaling debate rages on, Tuesday saw the release of the latest implementation of Bitcoin Core.
Bitcoin Core 0.14.0 provides some useful adjustments to user features, giving transaction senders and receivers greater flexibility and control over their funds.
Included are significant timesaving benefits for new nodes, as well as optional Replace-by-Fee functionality (also referred to as “child-pays-for-parent”).
For nodes joining Bitcoin Core, there is now an “Assumevalid” option to assume transactions are valid up to a certain block, negating the need to sync the entire Bitcoin Blockchain and thereby saving time.
This comes hand in hand with Blockchain pruning - older blocks can simply be deleted if desired once verified, saving users valuable disc space for Bitcoin’s 100-gigabyte Blockchain.
In terms of fees, meanwhile, RBF allows a second transaction to be sent in order to have the original one confirmed faster if confirmation is taking longer than expected.
The second transaction will have a higher fee and miners will recognize that both the first and second should be processed. This is already possible from certain wallets but has now received limited availability for Bitcoin Core.
The release comes as both Bitcoin Core and alternatives such as Bitcoin Unlimited continue heated debate on how to resolve the network’s capacity issues.
Most recent developments hint that in the event of a hard fork, Bitcoin Unlimited would, in fact, become a new altcoin, known as $BTU or $XBU.