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The Blocksize War: The battle over who controls Bitcoin’s protocol rules Paperback – March 14, 2021

by Jonathan Bier (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 532 ratings
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This book covers Bitcoin’s blocksize war, which was waged from August 2015 to November 2017. On the surface the battle was about the amount of data allowed in each Bitcoin block, however it exposed much deeper issues, such as who controls Bitcoin’s protocol rules. It is not possible to cover every twist and turn in the labyrinthine conflict or all the arguments, but I have provided a chronology of the most significant events. This book explores some of the major characters in the conflict and includes coverage, from both the front lines and behind the scenes, during some of the most acute phases of the struggle. The account in this book includes discussions with the key players from both sides during the war, exploring their motivations, strategy and thought processes as the exhausting campaign progressed and developed.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    228 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    March 14, 2021
  4. Dimensions
    5 x 0.52 x 8 inches
  5. ISBN-13
    979-8721895609
  6. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08YQMC2WM
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (March 14, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 228 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8721895609
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.52 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 532 ratings

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Jonathan Bier

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
532 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book on the history of the Bitcoin block size wars
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2024
Verified Purchase
First, this book is very well-written. The characters, their motives, and their positions are clear, especially toward the end of the book. Second, the overall storyline is fairly clear - after much reading you begin to understand the major arguments and positions that people took over the main technical attempts to improve/change the existing Bitcoin protocols. The complexity of some of the technical ideas is confusing in many places - diagrams or tables would have helped to isolate and clarify them. The book tries to avoid digging into obscure technical details, but even so, as a knowledgeable reader, I got lost in the details in multiple places. At the end, I am very grateful that the author did such a wonderful job of capturing this part of Bitcoin’s history and the people involved in the evolution. You can’t help but come away from the book feeling the impact of the complexity of what goes on under the hood in the Bitcoin mining and user networks. Working on the Bitcoin Core software is definitely not for the faint of heart. I strongly recommend this excellent book to anyone interested in Bitcoin’s history.
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Michael I.
5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating, priceless
Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2024
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The media could not be loaded.
 I’m very happy, I prioritize this book on my reading list, it happened to be insightful, captivating.
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Paul
4.0 out of 5 stars Blocksize Bore
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2021
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Informative but ultimately a bit esoteric in terms of the main narratives. This book had the difficult challenge of straddling the technical details versus the larger context and value prop of different block sizes, but did an admirable job. However, I am still not sure what is superior- fixed or variable block size for the future of Bitcoin as Satoshi originally envisioned it.
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Stephen Willard
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2024
Verified Purchase
Very readable narrative despite the highly technical subject.
You'll probably skim through some of the quotes, but it's a great story.
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Pandion
5.0 out of 5 stars A History book.
Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2023
Verified Purchase
Once something is working and not broken should it be fixed? The author does a great job describing in non technical terms the dangers of big investors tinkering with change in operational code for block chain products. Discussing soft vs hard forks and essentially attempting a fair description of two camps: Big Blockers vs Small Blockers. What works in theory does not always work in reality. Fixing something that is already working ,(not broken) increases risk if rushed for nothing more than financial gain.
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CalBear10011
5.0 out of 5 stars Great insight into the Bitcoin ecosystem
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2023
Verified Purchase
All the interactions on social media between bitcoin people makes sense after reading this book. You also get a sense of what makes bitcoin strong as well as what things can make it fragile.

As mentioned by another reviewer there is no page in the front with copyright date info. That's important to get context on when this book was written. That eventually becomes clear at the end.
This book needs a once over for editing.
Constantly switching between "small blocker" and "smaller blocker" or "large blocker" and "larger blocker" was super annoying.
Many things like that almost made my review score a 4... But it was better than a 4
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Harry
5.0 out of 5 stars Must-have in your “bitcoin library”
Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2022
Verified Purchase
Excellent in depth look into a pivotal moment in bitcoin’s history. Perfect for bitcoiners who have been in the space for several years or who have a solid understanding of bitcoin’s history with some technical knowledge. If you’re interested in bitcoin or newer to the space, it’s still a great read. I’d just recommend getting the basics elsewhere first so that you can fully appreciate this book. It’s a must-have to round out any “bitcoin library” right up there with The Internet of Money, The Bitcoin Standard, and Digital Gold.
2 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Towards an Internet money for all
Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2023
Verified Purchase
A decentralized , non confiscatable currency on the Internet is emerging from Satoshi’s original protocol. It has yet to be achieved but this book shows the base protocol is solidly in place.
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Top reviews from other countries

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SDallaire
5.0 out of 5 stars Lu en 2023 et c'est encore pertinent
Reviewed in Canada on April 22, 2023
Verified Purchase
On en apprend beaucoup sur la communauté Bitcoin et nous donne une idée de ce qui pourrait se passer dans un futur conflit. J'ai rarement autant dévoré un livre.
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Matteo Mengoni
5.0 out of 5 stars Ottimo
Reviewed in Italy on March 27, 2024
Verified Purchase
Il consenso di btc spiegato tramite eventi di guerra
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Dex08
5.0 out of 5 stars Livre essentiel pour comprendre le Bitcoin
Reviewed in France on January 12, 2022
Verified Purchase
Ce livre est essentiel pour comprendre l’évolution du bitcoin pendant sa première décennie. Il montre aussi le côté humain derrière la cryptomonnaie. Attention, ce n’est pas pour les non initiés. Il faut connaître déjà les fondamentaux de la blockchain.
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Peter Young
5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliantly-wriiten account of the seminal conflict in Bitcoin's history
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 21, 2021
Verified Purchase
Jonathan Bier had a ringside seat at many of the pivotal events that defined the 2015-2017 blocksize war: the battle over whether BItcoin should undertake a "hard fork" as a means of allowing for more on-chain transactions.

This book provides a gripping account of the events that took place, telling a story that spans continents, and involves a host of intriguing characters.

The book provides:

>An outline of the blocksize controversy, and the key technical and economic issues at stake
>The events of the 2016 Hong Kong Roundtable, where large and small blockers met and controversial compromises were reached.
>The Segwit and the Lightning Network scaling proposals, and why these were opposed by prominent big blockers.
>The 2017 Bitcoin Cash hard fork, and the intriguing roles played by Bitmain’s Jihan Wu and early bitcoin investor Roger Ver, including the events that led to Bitmain ploughing a colossal $888 million of its cash reserves into Bitcoin Cash.
>The emergence of Craig Wright, his claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, his joining of the big blocker cause, and the eventual split between Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV.
>Where we are in 2021 with BCH trading at around 1% the value of BTC, and the apparent victory of the small blockers.

The book is simply a "must-read" for Bitcoiners, and those looking to learn more about this emerging new form of money that is profoundly impacting the financial world. Highly recommended.
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Felix Weis
5.0 out of 5 stars Bitcoin's coming of age story
Reviewed in Germany on March 17, 2021
Verified Purchase
A fantastic book offering a prime account of one of the most tumultuous yet defining periods in Bitcoin's young history. The author eloquently recalls all the major main and side events from this "battle". It's a gripping narration from the start until the pinnacle in the summer/fall of 2017. For those who were already part of Bitcoin back then, it’s a nice trip down memory lane. With the benefit of hindsight, it becomes clear that the outcome of the blocksize war was far from certain and how even some altcoins were offering more learnings by proxy than the average bitcoin enthusiast might admit at first. For those who joined Bitcoin after 2017, the book offers valuable insights explaining how we got here and why the defining beneficial properties of the Bitcoin protocol are *not* guaranteed by default.
I’m hopeful this book ensures the many lessons from Bitcoin’s heavily conflicted coming of age period (2015-2017) won’t be easily forgotten.
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