What to know:
- Grassroots support is emerging for two Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs), BIP 119 and BIP 348, which could be implemented in Bitcoin's next soft fork.
- These BIPs, which propose new ways of writing Bitcoin script, have gained explicit support from numerous developers and could significantly improve Bitcoin self-custody, fee management, and existing tech like Lightning, Ark, and contract-based applications.
- The process for a Bitcoin soft fork requires support from stakeholders including developers, custodians, investors, and miners, with miners signaling support for changes in their mined blocks.
Grassroots support for two bitcoin improvement proposals (BIP) appears to be emerging for Bitcoin’s next soft fork, centered around two candidates: BIPs 119 and 348.
BIPs are the formal method for discussion of proposed changes to Bitcoin. Theoretically, if a BIP gains sufficient widespread support, it will be added to Bitcoin, by way of a soft fork or a routine update to Bitcoin Core. Often, these BIPs are referred to by nicknames and multiple proposals may be included in a soft fork. BIP 119 refers to OP_CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY (CTV) while BIP 348 refers to OP_CHECKSIGFROMSTACK (CSFS).
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Bitcoin’s technical community typically debates these BIPs exhaustively. The Taproot Wizards–a Bitcoin development firm most well known for its Bitcoin NFTs–put out a helpful graphic explaining the confusing and seemingly circular process of these discussions.
In short, the Bitcoin soft fork process requires a rough estimate of support from Bitcoin’s stakeholders, including developers, custodians, investors and miners. The best proxy for this stakeholder support remains Bitcoin miners, who can flag support for an alteration to the codebase by signaling for changes in their mined blocks. Typically, Bitcoin Core asks for 95% of blocks over a period to signal for the change before locking in the update for activation.
Still, there’s no definitive heuristic for defining what “widespread support” looks like, and Bitcoin consensus is a constantly evolving, moving target. Miners are useful for signalling a change only because they are a truly ‘countable’ entity on the Bitcoin network. In other words, it’s difficult to get a say of meat world consensus given Bitcoin’s decentralized structure.
Over the course of February and March, we’ve registered a definite shift as numerous developers gave their explicit support for the two BIPs.