Taproot, the much sought-after Bitcoin (BTC) soft fork, has now finally managed to pass the Speedy Trial, and it has done so with over 90% signaling blocks. As of now, Taproot is scheduled to be implemented later on in the year, most likely in November.
During a time when it seems as if the world’s flagship cryptocurrency is mostly surrounded by nothing but bad news, investors can now celebrate as Bitcoin moves ever close towards making even more history than it already has. Some have even speculated that the Taproot soft fork could be as significant an event as the last halving or SegWit.
Approval process still needs to be administered
Taproot is perhaps the most progressive and ambitious update for Bitcoin ever since 2017. It has now been approved by the miners at long last and is locked for the purposes of implementation in November, as aforementioned.
However, before it can be fully implemented, Taproot will need to undergo a thorough process of approval before being deemed ready to be released. As much as the developers would prefer it, the update cannot just be launched without gaining approval first. In Taproot’s case, the miners were required to reach a common consensus as well as send a signal through which it could be shown that sufficient support had finally be provided. As such, it is compulsory for 90% of the total blocks mined in any difficult period to possess a signal, which had finally been achieved for Taproot.
A difficult period may be understood as the overall time period which tends to pass between 2 difficult yet necessary adjustments. Bitcoin’s network functions through balancing the total computational power that is contributed thanks to the miners with the algorithmic difficulty that must be faced and ultimately solved.
Taproot’s significance
Simply put, Taproot has the potential to provide more private, lightweight, and secure transactions. This is important because it allows the network to be able to carry out the transactions with relative ease. This, in turn, makes Bitcoin more scalable and also assists in lowering transaction fees. Moreover, investors believe that Taproot could be seen as a potentially bullish sign, which will only serve to help the digital asset going forward.
However, not everyone is a fan of the update, chief among which being Edward Snowden. He has claimed that Taproot may, in fact, do more harm than good if implemented. He said that while it may have some value, it fails to solve the various privacy issues pertaining to Bitcoin.