Dr. Pieter Wuille, a Bitcoin Core developer and co-founder of Blockstream, a firm focused on building software solutions for the Bitcoin (BTC) protocol, has announced a new open-source project.
Optimizing Transaction Relay
Wuille’s new project will include contributions from other Bitcoin developers such as Greg Maxwell, Gleb Naumenko, among others. As explained by Wuille, the new project will focus on making improvements to “BTC transaction relay.”
Wuille, who is known for being one of the most prolific contributors to the Bitcoin Core codebase, noted that the project would “not so much [try to enhance] block relay”, but would work on changes to optimize the transaction relay process. The San Francisco resident also mentioned that project could potentially benefit other applications.
As described on the project’s Github page, the collaborative effort involving BTC developers will create a (code) library for “BCH-based set reconciliation.” BCH stands for Bose–Chaudhuri–Hocquenghem codes, which “form a class of cyclic error-correcting codes” and “one of the key features of BCH codes is that during code design, there is a precise control over the number of symbol errors correctable by the code.”
Minisketch: “Minimal Bandwidth Overhead”
In other words, when trying to relay transactions on a blockchain network, there can be processing errors at times. So, Wuille’s BCH-based set reconciliation library will aim to minimize such errors in order to ultimately improve the efficiency of transactions on Bitcoin’s network. As mentioned, this library may be used by other blockchain network protocols.
In a thread posted on Twitter, Wuille wrote that the approach he has proposed, called Minisketch, has “minimal bandwidth overhead” compared to the current block propagation method that Bitcoin developers are trying to utilize.
According to Wuille, the “downside” of this approach is “slower performance” if strictly measuring the amount of time it will take to process the set of instructions that are associated with the PinSketch algorithm (which Wuille and others wants to use). However, the Bitcoin developer said that the new approach will be “fast enough with optimizations.”
“5x More Development Work” Being Done In Bear Market
As most Bitcoin enthusiasts would know, Wuille has helped in making several improvements to the Bitcoin protocol including SegWit, BIP 66 (Bitcoin Improvement Proposal for how transaction signatures are handled), libsecp256k1 (a “very efficient implementation” of parsing public and private keys).
Despite the declining prices of digital currencies, development work does not seem to have slowed down. As CryptoGlobe reported, there is currently “5x more development work” being done in the crypto industry, when compared to last year. This, according to BlockTower Capital CEO, Ari Paul, who also said that he sees “a long term buying opportunity” given present market prices.
