比特幣區塊大小戰爭：兩本書的故事

在最近的一篇部落格文章中，以太坊聯合創始人 Vitalik Buterin 對比特幣最具爭議的歷史辯論之一進行了深入分析。

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has shared his thoughts on one of Bitcoin's most contentious historical debates in a recent blog post. Buterin's reflections are based on his readings of two prominent books on the subject: Jonathan Bier's "The Blocksize War," which offers a pro-small-block perspective, and Roger Ver and Steve Patterson's "Hijacking Bitcoin," which advocates for the big-block viewpoint.

以太坊聯合創始人 Vitalik Buterin 在最近的部落格文章中分享了他對比特幣最具爭議的歷史辯論之一的看法。 Buterin 的反思是基於他對有關該主題的兩本著名書籍的閱讀：喬納森·比爾(Jonathan Bier) 的《區塊大小之戰》(The Blocksize War)，該書提供了支持小區塊的觀點，以及羅傑·維爾(Roger Ver) 和史蒂夫·帕特森(Steve Patterson) 的《劫持比特幣》(Hijacking Bitcoin)，該書提倡大區塊。

The Bitcoin block size war of the 2010s was a fundamental dispute over the direction and nature of Bitcoin’s scalability and utility. At the heart of the matter was whether Bitcoin should increase its block size limit from 1 MB to accommodate more transactions, thereby reducing fees, or maintain smaller blocks to ensure that running a node remains accessible to more users, preserving decentralization.

2010 年代的比特幣區塊大小之戰是關於比特幣可擴展性和實用性的方向和性質的根本性爭議。問題的核心是，比特幣是否應該將其區塊大小限制從1 MB 增加以容納更多交易，從而降低費用，或者維持較小的區塊以確保更多用戶可以訪問運行節點，從而保持去中心化。

Small blockers vs. big blockers

小阻斷劑與大阻斷劑

Jonathan Bier’s "The Blocksize War" largely emphasizes the small blockers' view. It argues that increasing the block size limit would make it prohibitively expensive and technically challenging for individuals to run nodes, leading to centralization. Small blockers also believed that changes to Bitcoin’s protocol, especially through hard forks, should be rare and achieve broad consensus among users.

喬納森·比爾（Jonathan Bier）的「區塊大小戰爭」在很大程度上強調了小區塊者的觀點。它認為，增加區塊大小限制將使個人運行節點的成本過高且在技術上具有挑戰性，從而導致中心化。小區塊者也認為，對比特幣協議的改變，特別是透過硬分叉，應該很少發生，並在用戶之間達成廣泛共識。

On the other hand, Roger Ver and Steve Patterson's "Hijacking Bitcoin" captures the big blockers' stance. They viewed Bitcoin as digital cash, not just digital gold, and believed that low transaction fees were essential for its use as a global payment system. To achieve this, big blockers supported increasing the block size to maintain low fees, arguing that Bitcoin’s original vision, as outlined in Satoshi Nakamoto's whitepaper, was being sidelined.

另一方面，羅傑·維爾（Roger Ver）和史蒂夫·帕特森（Steve Patterson）的《劫持比特幣》抓住了大區塊者的立場。他們將比特幣視為數位現金，而不僅僅是數位黃金，並認為低交易費用對於其作為全球支付系統的使用至關重要。為了實現這一目標，大區塊支持者支持增加區塊大小以維持低費用，他們認為中本聰白皮書中概述的比特幣最初願景已被邊緣化。

Buterin’s perspective

布特林的觀點

Vitalik Buterin introduced the concept of a "one-sided competence trap," where one side of a debate monopolizes technical competence, using it to push a narrow agenda. Meanwhile, the opposition, though correct on the fundamental issue, fails to develop the necessary competence to execute their vision effectively.

Vitalik Buterin 提出了「單方面能力陷阱」的概念，即辯論的一方壟斷技術能力，利用它來推動狹隘的議程。同時，反對派雖然在基本問題上是正確的，但未能發展有效執行其願景所需的能力。

Buterin argues that this dynamic was evident in the block size war, with small blockers maintaining technical control while big blockers struggled to implement their ideas effectively. According to Buterin, the ultimate solution to such political and technical stalemates lies in new technologies that can satisfy both sides.

Buterin 認為，這種動態在區塊大小之戰中很明顯，小區塊者保持技術控制，而大區塊者則努力有效地實施他們的想法。 Buterin 認為，解決這種政治和技術僵局的最終辦法在於能夠讓雙方都滿意的新技術。

He pointed to Ethereum’s embrace of technologies like ZK-SNARKs and BLS aggregation as examples of how innovative solutions can enhance scalability and decentralization simultaneously. Buterin expressed hope that Bitcoin would adopt a more tech-forward approach, and that the development of new layer-2 solutions like Inscriptions and BitVM could pave the way for a more scalable and decentralized Bitcoin ecosystem.

他指出以太坊採用 ZK-SNARK 和 BLS 聚合等技術作為創新解決方案如何同時增強可擴展性和去中心化的例子。 Buterin 表示希望比特幣能夠採用更技術先進的方法，而像 Inscriptions 和 BitVM 這樣的新的第 2 層解決方案的開發可以為更具可擴展性和去中心化的比特幣生態系統鋪平道路。