Libbitcoin

  • Libbitcoin’s forthcoming version 4 has posted a benchmark showing a one-hour blockchain sync time on a US$360 machine

Problems with Bitcoin Core

  • The recent spam attack beginning in Feb 2023 and continuing until the present, has caused the utxoset to balloon in size from 4GB to 12GB in less than two years
  • This has caused Raspberry Pi 4Bs to no longer be able to sync the blockchain in a reasonable amount of time
  • How long does a blockchain sync usually take?
  • How long is “reasonable”?
  • Why is it important for cheap machines to be able to sync bitcoin?

The Libbitcoin Benchmark

  • The benchmark configuration was equivalent to “assumevalid=840000” in Bitcoin Core
  • Libbitcoin’s architecture does not include an in-ram “utxoset”
  • Why does this architecture potentially fix the vulnerability revealed by the spam attack mentioned above?