On Sat, Mar 21, 2020 at 11:40:24AM -0700, Dave Scotese via bitcoin-dev wrote: > [Imagine] we also see mining power dropping off at a rate that > suggests the few days [until retarget] might become a few weeks, and > then, possibly, a few months or even the unthinkable, a few eons. I'm > curious to know if anyone has ideas on how this might be handled
There are only two practical solutions I'm aware of: 1. Do nothing 2. Hard fork a difficulty reduction If bitcoins retain even a small fraction of their value compared to the previous retarget period and if most mining equipment is still available for operation, then doing nothing is probably the best choice---as block space becomes scarcer, transaction feerates will increase and miners will be incentivized to increase their block production rate. If the bitcoin price has plummeted more than, say, 99% in two weeks with no hope of short-term recovery or if a large fraction of mining equipment has become unusable (again, say, 99% in two weeks with no hope of short-term recovery), then it's probably worth Bitcoin users discussing a hard fork to reduce difficulty to a currently sustainable level. -Dave
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