The activation of Taproot on the Bitcoin mainnet, one of the most discussed topics by developers, miners, bitcoiners and the crypto community in general, already has a planned route, and is expected to begin at the end of March this year.
At a recent meeting, developers, miners, bitcoiners and the crypto community Bitcoin In general, they decided to start with the activation of tap root at the end of March this year; specifically, between the 17th and 31st of that month. According to the activation proposal for Taproot, which includes the schedule activation for this update, the process is scheduled to start between March 17 and 31, with the release of an updated version of the Bitcoin software, which includes the parameters necessary for the activation of Taproot by full nodes on the network.
The schedule, which was published by Bitcoin developers on the Bitcoin.it portal, shows the step-by-step process of what will be the Taproot activation, which will occur progressively throughout this year, and which will culminate on August 1, if the activation process occurs as planned.
After releasing the new version of the Bitcoin Core software in March, the next step will be to warn outdated nodes about Taproot approval. The developers estimated a time frame of 3 months for this, so from July 23, miners will start signaling the approval of the update, and calling on nodes to update to the new version of the Bitcoin software. Then, 2 weeks after miners controlling more than 90% of the computing power of the Bitcoin network support Taproot, the update will be activated on the mainnet. According to the schedule, by August 1, the entire Bitcoin network will be using Taproot.
It may interest you: Bitcoin developers, miners and enthusiasts could activate Taproot through a UASF
Voting on the activation route
On February 16th, developers, miners, bitcoiners, enthusiasts and the Bitcoin crypto community in general held a meeting where they discussed the method of activating Taproot on the mainnet. At the beginning of the month, it had been said that the activation could be done through a UASF, a User Activated Soft Fork, although the possibility of Taproot being activated by miners was also discussed, in a MASF.
To make a decision, participants carried out a voting process, using the commands LOT=true, to express support for user-driven activation (UASF); and LOT=false, to express support for the activation by the miners (MASF). The vote closed with 24 votes in favor of LOT=false, leaving Taproot in the hands of the network's miners.
MASF is a mechanism by which blockchain miners can introduce new updates without affecting the functioning of the network.
Miners will support Taproot activation
The vote in favor of LOT=false (MASF) leaves the activation of Taproot in the hands of miners, who at any time can choose to stop the implementation of this update on the Bitcoin mainnet. However, on the web Taproot Activation, driven by the Bitcoin mining pool Poolin, the majority of miners have come out in favor of Taproot, and have expressed that they will support the activation of this technology in Bitcoin.
However, despite the decisions of cryptocurrency developers and enthusiasts, developers like Luke dashjr, and even the Bitcoin evangelist, Andreas Antonopoulos, do not agree with MASF. On the contrary, these experts consider that UASF is a solution more in line with the vision with which Bitcoin was born, which is to give users decision-making power over the future of the decentralized network.
Continue reading: Schnorr and Taproot: The Future of Bitcoin Scalability and Privacy
