Countdown to Bitcoin Taproot upgrade: Will the node need to be updated?

The Bitcoin Taproot upgrade is in the countdown, and, as expected, it could be activated on November 13. The nodes represent the users on Bitcoin Network and protocol.

*Update: We have created a new article with information about the Taproot implementation, which you can see here: “The Bitcoin Taproot update is now live and it will bring significant changes “

It just takes roughly 800 blocks so Taproot can be added to the chain, which must happen in fewer than six days for Taproot to be active in Bitcoin.

The most crucial Bitcoin network and software upgrade of the previous five years is arriving in a relatively short time. Yet, the fraction of participating nodes still hasn’t been updated to accept it.

According to the website given by the developer Luke Dash Jr. concerning the node count, in which only 50 percent of them already support the new version, The client Bitcoin Core 0.22 is the first to offer support to Taproot. Currently.

The dangers of a fork and split of the Bitcoin network are unlikely because of the Bitcoin Taproot Upgrade

According to Taproot, the activation date, which might be between November 13 and November 14 according to Taproot.watch, disturbs several developers and other members of the Bitcoin community. 

The main reason is whether the difference between the nodes that activate Taproot and no could cause or encourage a happening division chain ( chain split ). The quick answer is “No,” albeit there are a few flats.

As bitcoiner Nicolas Bourbonni explained that for a chain split to occur, the nodes must amass enough processing power to construct a blockchain that is longer than the existing one. The miners’ evidence of labor accomplishes this.

Given their support for Taproot earlier this year, Bourbonni does not believe miners would wish to run alternative software and reject blocks that contain Taproot-type transactions.

On the other hand, Taproot is incorporated in Bitcoin as a soft fork, implying that this upgrade is compatible with prior versions of the Bitcoin software and the blockchain’s history.

Therefore, an outdated node does not have the power to reject a version of the chain that includes blocks with transactions of the Taproot format, without this leaving it outside the Bitcoin consensus.

Bourbonni noted that nodes that are not updated would not receive transactions from Taproot, such as those that a user could send from their wallet. 

Still, these nodes can accept and relay the blocks that include these transactions and are added to the chain by the miners.

For his part, Luke Dash Jr. explained that chain divisions should not be confused with a strong fork since this is the particular version of different software and is incompatible with the predominant version in the most significant number of nodes.

An old node is a forced fork concerning each soft fork [the other nodes].

So if we have a lot of old nodes, the rules are not applied consistently, and pressure is created from the [Bitcoin] economic sector to support a hard fork [different version of the software] to remove Taproot, said Luke Dash Jr., a Bitcoin developer.

Dash also noted that the emergence and acceptance of an alternative software or hard fork are unlikely. Still, if a Bitcoin economic sector decides not to upgrade to Taproot, it could incentivize the creation of two different chains ( chain split ).

CryptoDeFinance recently reported that some nodes have been having problems with Taproot transactions in tests carried out by developers.

Therefore, Bitcoin users have been suggested to take certain precautions regarding this upcoming update.

Learn a bit more about the Taproot Upgrade