The beach-side city of Acapulco recently played host a bitcoin scaling debate, which saw personally-charged moments amidst the discussion.
These days, whenever there is a bitcoin conference, there will inevitably be a scaling debate. Cryptopulco, the cryptocurrency-themed gathering located at the Mundo Imperial conference center in Acapulco, Mexico and hosted on the fourth day of the anarcho-capitalistic themed Anarchapulco conference, was no exception.
At the event, speakers and panelists evangelized the use of digital currency as a means for self-sovereignty and a solution to monetary censorship.
Among the highlights: investor Roger Ver challenged panelist Tone Vays to a bet about the prospects of Segregated Witness, a bitcoin network upgrade put forward the by Bitcoin Core development community. His comments came during the “Satoshi Panel”, consisting of Tone Vays, Rick Falkvinge, Bruce Fenton and Joby Weeks.
Ver, who originally was supposed to be a panelist but was absent when it began, grabbed a microphone and said to Vays:
“I’m willing to bet any amount that SegWit will not activate. Would you like to take me up on that? $1,000…$10,000, a gentleman’s bet that SegWit will not activate,” Ver said. “I’m not saying the technology is wrong, just that it won’t activate.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Vays took aim at Bitcoin Unlimited, an alternative bitcoin implementation that aims to increase the size of the network’s transaction blocks, among other changes.
“I have said this, if Bitcoin Unlimited becomes the dominant fork of bitcoin then I will remove myself from the public eye,” said Vays. “I may not sell my bitcoin, but will remove myself as a public speaker.”
Later, Fenton contended that 95% node consensus – the threshold required for network adoption of SegWit – will be extremely difficult, if not impossible.
“If I promised to give everyone in this conference hall 1 free bitcoin if they meet me outside after this panel,” he said. “I’m certain that less than 95% of you would show up. 95% in anything, even among like-minded people, is very difficult.”
Image by Garrett Keirns
