Episode notes
In this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors discuss the so-called “block 1,983,702 problem”. They explain how a bug in early Bitcoin implementations could in rare cases cause a loss of funds, or in a worst-case scenario even lead to consensus failures, while they also explain how BIP 30 and BIP 34 solved this problem. As it turns out, however, BIP 34 introduced a new problem, that could become an issue about twenty years from now…
Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction and Coinkite sponsor
00:01:19 The block 1,983,702 problem
00:04:05 How duplicate coinbase transactions arise
00:07:32 Lost coins, reorgs and consensus failure
00:14:39 BIP 30: preventing duplicate unspent transactions
00:17:10 BIP 34: adding block height to the coinbase
00:19:35 Why skipping BIP 30 checks was unsafe
00:27:39 The fallback: restoring BIP 30 checks
00:28:52 The 2017 near miss at block 490,897
00:32:31 Possible soft forks: SegWit commitments and alternatives
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This episode’s sponsor: CoinKite, maker of the ColdCard
Aaron’s Twitter: @AaronvanW
Aaron’s Nostr: npub1art8cs66ffvnqns5zs5qa9fwlctmusj5lj38j94lv0ulw0j54wjqhpm0w5
Sjors’ Twitter: @provoost
Sjors’ Nostr: npub1v25jqj332n630klwtqeqxgyrjl4alw4phmluhu2x6lcxzwy9m03suqexw3
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