Since bitcoin was founded 8 years ago in 2009, there have been many variations of the software client. And today is a special day in regards to that software. The original software launched by Satoshi Nakamoto has just reached the 15th edition; 0.15.0.
Bitcoin Core
After 6 months of hard work Wladimir van der Laan and about 100 other contributors launched the 15th rendition of the Core. But what is the Core? The Bitcoin Core is the program that logs every transaction for placement by miners into the blocks that make up the block chain. The core is what makes the blockchain possible.
History of the core
Satoshi Nakamoto; creator of Bitcoin, launched Bitcoin 0.1 in 2009 starting up the largest cryptocurrency to date. The original program was only accessible with Windows, however 0.2 allowed added linux to the list that December. Along with Linux, multicore processing was added to the program allowing for swifter mining of the blocks. Satoshi Nakamoto left the process after the release of 0.3.9. Thankfully development of the Core was processed through a community of programmers who all sought to improve the original Core. To allow easier access to updated versions “Bitcoin.org†was started up.
BItcoin-QT released 0.5 in november of 2011. And with this new update came a new interface allowing for easier access to transactions and codes. The next few years featured multiple small forks all of which were avoided. By 0.9 the program name was changed to what is used today; Bitcoin Core. The next update was the first to feature a log of rules. The main one, all soft forks required 95% of all programmers and miners to accept the change to be accepted. This rule comes into effect the following year with the introduction of update 13.1, or the introduction of SegWit.
0.15
What makes 0.15 better than all the rest?
First of all the blockchain data storage system has been restructured. In previous patches one transaction resulting in multiple destinations are all logged as one transaction. Now each destinations receives its own data entry. This entry is significant for two reasons; one it needs more disc space, which will decrease the number of transactions per block, and secondly requires less computing to decipher the ledger to result in a new transaction.
The second change is the transaction fee. Sadly with the mining rate slowing down every few years due to the bitcoin, some transactions will be processed faster than other. The main reason? The transaction fee. It is mainly an estimation, and miners will sometimes fit transactions with higher fees into the blocks. Some just fit better than others based on the data involved. This is not the only fee change featured. With the new interface users are allowed to increase the fee applied by their transactions at a later date. If a user needs to speed the transaction along this comes in handy.
The third change offered by 0.15 is the ability to have multiple wallets at the same time. A business wallet can now be used as just that. No longer do personal finances and business expenditures need to come from the same place.
The last changes to 0.15 are less notable, but as important. Transactions are expected to be faster just like every other update. But 0.15 is more stable. If the SegWit2x fork does happen, the new edition is set to differentiate the two paths allowing for more optimization. This change however is more than likely not necessary.
