Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2018 22:26:47 -0500
To: Helder Garcia <helder.garcia@gmail.com>
From: ZmnSCPxj <ZmnSCPxj@protonmail.com>
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Cc: "bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org"
	<bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org>
Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] BIP0008 clarification
Precedence: list

Good morning Helder,

>Hi,
>
> I=E2=80=99m trying to understand the process of signalling and activation=
 of updates in bitcoin. Following BIP34, BIP9, I got into BIP8.
> In my understanding of what I read there, an update will be activated eve=
n if the threshold of 95% signalling is not reached in STARTED state, as so=
on as blockchain height is equal or higher than timeout_height.
> Is my understanding correct? If so, isn=E2=80=99t it a risk to activate a=
 change even if you don=E2=80=99t have the majority of hash power accepting=
 it?

Assuming the update is widespread among economic actors, only miners who do=
 not follow the more stringent rules of the update will suffer, as their bl=
ocks will have a high probability of not following those rules and thus wil=
l be implicitly rejected by economic actors.  Rational miners who follow th=
e update, no matter how small their hash power share, would prefer the chai=
n that economic actors will accept as real and would build only on blocks t=
hat follow updated rules strictly.

Indeed, the time from STARTED to ACTIVE simply serves to let miners upgrade=
 their software, as a concession that in the real world we cannot safely de=
ploy new software in a single day.

Regards,
ZmnSCPxj