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by Kinnard 3360 days ago
That's not an increase in the size of the block per se, as much as it is an increase in the efficiency of encoding off-Blockchain information, no?
2 comments
makomk 3360 days ago
Not really. SegWit transactions are on-blockchain like any other - the only difference is that nodes which aren't keeping a full copy of the blockchain can save some extra space by discarding the witness part immediately after processing the block. (So I guess if you wanted to be pedantic you might be able to argue the witness part is off-blockchain in some sense, but even then the transfer of bitcoins still happens on the main blockchain.)
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jlrubin 3360 days ago
No, it is a space increase! Witness data is counted with a discount. Blocks can be larger than 1MB under SegWit.
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Kinnard 3360 days ago
Perhaps this is semantic?
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jlrubin 3360 days ago
It's not semantic, it is substantive. A maximally utilized SegWit block is larger than a maximally utilized current block.

I.e., if you were planning out how much disk space you needed years in advance, you would have to increase that figure non-negligibly if SegWit activates.

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