Reddit/r/bitcoin is flooding with news that the Bitcoin blockchain has forked, in that versions 0.7 and 0.8 are accepting different blockchains. What does this mean for the users?
asked Mar 12, 2013 at 2:22
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2 Answers
Gavin Andreson has tweeted this: https://twitter.com/gavinandresen/status/311290936527298561
The bitcointalk post linked by Gavin is a post by Peter Wuille, which says this:
Hello everyone,
there is an emergency right now: the block chain has split between 0.7+earlier and 0.8 nodes. I'll explain the reasons in a minute, but this is what you need to know now:
- After a discussion on #bitcoin-dev, it seems trying to get everyone on the old chain again is the least risky solution.
- If you're a miner, please do not mine on 0.8 code. Stop, or switch back to 0.7. BTCGuild is switching to 0.7, so the old chain will get a majority hash rate soon.
- If you're a merchant: please stop processing transactions until the chains converge.
- If you're on 0.7 or older, the client will likely tell you that you need to upgrade. Do not follow this advise - the warning should go away as soon as the old chain catches up.
- If you are not a merchant or a miner, don't worry.
answered Mar 12, 2013 at 2:22
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What about miners against public pools? I'm assuming we should check the pool website for status, but is there anything specific we can do? Mar 12, 2013 at 2:48
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@JedDaniels, yes, you could also check bitcointalk to find a pool operator that is clearly running the correct version. Mar 12, 2013 at 2:56
If you are a user, Don't do anything, including transactions.
If you are a miner, Stop mining on 0.8.
If you are a merchant, Don't do anything, including transactions.
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1Poor wording. E.g. merchants need to do something, unless they sell stuff by hand: turn off their automated bitcoin processing.– nealmcbMar 12, 2013 at 4:32