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Date: Mon, 01 Apr 2024 13:37:59 +0000
To: Jameson Lopp <jameson.lopp@gmail.com>
From: Pieter Wuille <bitcoin-dev@wuille.net>
Cc: Peter Todd <pete@petertodd.org>, Nagaev Boris <bnagaev@gmail.com>, bitcoindev@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [bitcoindev] The Future of Bitcoin Testnet
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On Monday, April 1st, 2024 at 8:54 AM, Jameson Lopp <jameson.lopp@gmail.com=
> wrote:

> It sounds like folks think testnet is useful enough to continue maintaini=
ng.
> I think it's a fair point that testnet should strive to be as similar to =
mainnet as possible. If we fix the difficulty reset edge case then that wil=
l arguably make testnet EVEN MORE like mainnet by removing the "block storm=
" phenomenon.

Agreed on both points. Signet is useful, but it is probably not the right s=
olution for everything. And testnet has been reset before, it shouldn't be =
a big deal to reset it again.

> Changing the supply schedule is an interesting proposal, though I'd count=
er that fixing the difficulty reset will naturally make the supply schedule=
 more evenly distributed over time, plus we can hopefully move toward reset=
ting the network before long. I'd be slightly worried about changing consen=
sus rules on testnet that deviate significantly from mainnet because I bet =
there are plenty of systems running that validate that rule or make assumpt=
ions that it's the same as mainnet, and deploying such a change could cause=
 far more grief for the developer ecosystem.

I think there is an easier alternative to changing the supply rule: the int=
ention to reset it again when its subsidy drops too low. That may even also=
 counteract the development of a non-zero market price for the coins.

As for using other measures to prevent too large difficulty variations... I=
'm not sure that's desirable, because it always cuts both ways (nicely demo=
nstrated by the "allow difficulty 1 rule" on testnet3 backfiring and enabli=
ng block storms!). For applications that actually need very predictable blo=
ck rate, there is signet. For others, just the normal mainnet rules are pro=
bably not too terrible. I would be ok with having a somewhat reduced block =
interval (say a few days instead of 2 weeks) if that's not deemed to comple=
x to implement across the ecosystem, but I don't think it's that important.

--=20
Pieter

--=20
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