- The BIP or Bitcoin Improvement Proposal is a standardized way of presenting any change, no matter how small, in the functioning of the Bitcoin blockchain.
- The BIPs are published on GitHub for anyone interested to review and spark debate and discussion.
- Since the Bitcoin blockchain is a decentralized blockchain, the process of a BIP is organized by the Bitcoin community itself.
The term BIP refers to Bitcoin Improvement Proposal, which can be translated into Spanish as an Improvement Proposal for Bitcoin and consists of a document that describes a proposal or design to improve the structure or operation of the Bitcoin blockchain.
It is necessary to remember that Bitcoin is decentralized and, therefore, there is no hierarchical or defined organizational structure in charge of making decisions, consequently, there was a need to establish a generally accepted standard for the introduction of new ideas to the Bitcoin ecosystem and this it is precisely the role played by BIPs.
as you know, Bitcoin is the oldest and largest blockchain in the world and although it is about 13 years old, not much has changed, pBut, even so, it also does not mean that the Bitcoin blockchain is not being updated.
Bitcoin requires updates, which can range from bug fixes to algorithmic changes or code simplifications in order to increase the efficiency of the network, and to do so, BIPs must be developed and accepted by the community. community.
It is essential to note that BIPs are not to be taken lightly. Any change in the network can put security at risk and, therefore, these proposals must be carefully evaluated.
The first BIP took place on August 19, 2011 when it was proposed and promulgated by Amir Taaki, a developer of Bitcoin. In this way, it was Taaki who established the format of the Bitcoin Improvement Proposals and, for this, he was inspired by the system of proposals for changes to the Python programming language.
Since it is a decentralized ecosystem, BIPs are published on GitHub for anyone interested to review and spark debate and discussion.
But what exactly are BIPs?
A BIP is a standardized way of presenting any change, no matter how small, in the functioning of the Bitcoin blockchain. We could say that a BIP is a standard method that the Bitcoin community uses to promote ideas, changes and improvements in the protocol.
Although not all changes to Bitcoin require a BIP, it can propose to change anything from consensus rules to the Bitcoin community standards. For example, for changes where you want to change the user interface, you don’t need to go through the lengthy process of a BIP.
Also, it is essential to understand that the process of a BIP is organized by the Bitcoin community itself given the absence of a central leader.
Therefore, it should not be a task to be taken lightly since, as a new monetary system, Bitcoin continues to build its reputation and security is a fundamental factor in maintaining people’s trust.
How are they created?
As the community is in charge of developing and deciding whether to execute a BIP, the creation process is particularly relevant.
A BIP usually starts as an informal proposal from some developer who sends it through some communication channel cThis can be via email, Slack, community forums, or on Twitter.
Why present an informal idea to the community? Well, because it has become a great strategy to save time. In the end, the proposal requires the support of the community, so when a developer presents his idea on social networks, he can receive feedback from the community.
In this way, the developer will know if a similar proposal has already been submitted previously or if his idea is not even in line with the general development standards of the community.
Then, By getting feedback from the community, a developer can reduce the chances of their proposal being rejected and wasting time.
If the developer sees a good reception of his idea by the community, the idea needs a BIP champion who will be the author of the proposal. Basically, you will be in charge of converting the informal idea into a detailed technical documentation that meets the BIP standard.
Subsequently, the author will be in charge of presenting the proposal to the editor of the BIP. The editor will be in charge of auditing the proposal and will be responsible for its administration.
What does the publisher do? Make sure there are no errors and verify the feasibility of the proposal. In this way, you have the ability to request revisions from the author or directly reject the proposal.
Once the publisher says the proposal is ready to go, it will get an official number, for example, BIP 119 and subsequently, the author will proceed to present the BIP to the community, for which he publish in the Bitcoin Core GitHub BIP repository.
No, the process of creating a BIP does not end here. Before being implemented, a BIP must go through a series of stages to be approved.
You already have the proposal, now what next?
Decentralization is an essential feature of Bitcoin, but even so, it cannot be denied that, in some cases, it can cause certain delays in the innovation process. Yes, The fact that the entire community participates guarantees that mistakes are not made, ideas that could put the blockchain at risk are not executed, and that the future of the network is not conditioned by the interests of a few. However, it is also true that it generates some slowness.
In this way, the implementation consists of two steps:
- The proposed update is merged with the Bitcoin Core software code, then it must be activated. Watch out! This step does not necessarily imply that the BIP has been accepted. Not all BIPs that are merged into code are ultimately accepted.
- The nodes must agree on the rules and come to a consensus on how to run the network. In this way, the BIP must be approved by the vast majority of approximately 95% of the miners. Basically the miners will have to add a reference to their hash block to indicate if they accept or reject the implementation of a BIP.
Final approval happens automatically when node operators choose which version of Bitcoin Core to download and run a node that reflects the proposal.
Types of BIPs
Essentially, there are three types of GDP: Standard, Informational, and Consensus.
- Consensus BIP: These proposals seek to change a process by proposing a change or improvement of it. They require universal consensus.
- Standards Track, or BIP Standard: They describe changes that affect most or all implementations of Bitcoin. They generally aim to execute changes in the protocol and require consensus to be approved.
- Informational BIPs: As its name indicates, its purpose is to inform. They are used to publicize a Bitcoin design problem and, for this, evidence or studies are presented that support the proposal and the statements that the BIP contains.
Most Relevant Bitcoin BIPs
Below you will learn about some of the most relevant BIPs that have been implemented in the Bitcoin network.
- BIP-141: SegWit. The goal of this proposal is to increase the capacity of the Bitcoin network. That is, it is a scaling solution. To do this, the proposal modified the way Bitcoin stores data.
- taproot: This update brought a set of new features to Bitcoin and was activated on November 12, 2021. Taproot was made up of three BIPs, each defining different protocol updates: Schnorr Signatures, Taproot, and Tapscript.
- BIP 008 – BIP 009: Both proposals introduced a standardized framework for triggering soft fork upgrades in Bitcoin.
What is its importance?
BIPs allow the Bitcoin blockchain to stay current and therefore efficient, while keeping the network decentralized. This is critical because it ensures that the future of Bitcoin is not defined by minority interests.
Furthermore, by establishing a standardized and transparent framework for the entire community, the risk of implementing changes to the network that could lead to security or performance issues is reduced.
BIPs have directly impacted the way a Blockchain proposal is organized and published. The same has happened with other major blockchains, for example, Ethereum has the standardized Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) framework.
However, BIPs certainly have a weakness. As previously mentioned, it is the node operators who participate in the voting on the proposal. That is, those holders of Bitcoin are not formally included.
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