The below is a direct extract from Marty’s Bent Issue #1274: “Erlay support signaling merged with Bitcoin Core.” Subscribe to the newsletter here.
It’s been over three years and exactly 696 numbers since the last time we talked about Erlay. In September 2019, we wrote about Pieter Wuille and Gleb Naumenko submitting an official BIP (Bitcoin Improvement Proposal) to start the process of merging Erlay into the protocol. For those of you who may not know what Erlay is, it is a modification of the transaction relay protocol at the peer-to-peer layer where full nodes communicate and share transaction data that has been broadcast on the network. The change would bring significant bandwidth efficiency gains to this peer-to-peer layer, making it easier for more people to run full nodes, especially people who live in areas with below average internet connectivity.
Here is a breakdown of the bandwidth efficiency improvements that will come once Erlay is widely adopted by full node operators:
via Bandwidth Efficient Transaction Relay in Bitcoin Whitepaper
We envision a massive breakthrough in distributed network engineering that will allow Bitcoin to become a more robust, reliable, and private network: more robust because it allows more individuals to participate in network validation by lowering the barrier to entry with reduced Internet bandwidth so people can more easily run a full node; more reliable by increasing connectivity between nodes; and more private by making it harder for attackers to identify the node from which a transaction originated.
In the midst of the current bear market, when many are arguing, diving into bitcoin or losing interest, the protocol is approaching a major peer-to-peer upgrade that most are oblivious to. Slowly but surely, Bitcoin fundamentals continue to improve dramatically as everyone focuses on the noise. That’s exactly what I like to see.
We should also note the fact that this obvious upgrade took almost three and a half years to come to fruition, from the white paper proposal to the official Bitcoin enhancement proposal to support merging signaling into Bitcoin. Core – and there is still more to do after this merger. This may seem incredibly long to some, but it shows how seriously those working on the protocol approach are changing. Erlay went through years of discussion, review, and testing before getting to the point where nodes can start reporting their support for the new transaction relay protocol. It’s a beautiful thing to see.
Don’t let anyone tell you that Bitcoiners don’t innovate. We innovate in the areas most critical to long-term success. Boring areas that aren’t flashy enough for clickbait titles. You will often find that the less flashy areas are the most important and Erlay is a perfect example of this. Erlay brings better bitcoin to more people and that’s all one should wish for at the end of the day.