Litecoin Developers Mull Using Extension Blocks and MimbleWimble » The Merkle Hash

When it comes to cryptocurrency development, altcoins are often considered test cases for technology that could benefit Bitcoin. Litecoin is often the go-to testing ground in this regard. It appears the popular altcoin will get its own MimbleWimble implementation. Two separate improvement proposals have been made public on GitHub. 

Extensions Blocks are an Option

Scaling cryptocurrencies remains one of the more pressing matters in the industry today. Several altcoins have tried multiple approaches to achieving this goal. Unfortunately for them, they do not see a transaction volume on the scale of Bitcoin (BTC), thus it remains to be seen if any of those will be implemented at a future date One development of potential interest comes in the form of Extension Blocks. It is not an entirely new topic in the cryptocurrency world, albeit one that remains largely untested. 

One of the two Litecoin Improvement Protocols discusses the use of Extension Blocks. It would give the altcoin a notable block size increase, yet wouldn’t change the core mechanics of the network. This chain runs parallel to the existing blockchain, which makes it an elegant and potentially viable solution. It does require a more technical approach compared to other alternatives, albeit it is still interesting to see the option being explored. 

The MimbleWimble Proposal

Known as LIP 3, this is the part of the proposals which talks about MimbleWimble itself. Bitcoin (BTC) and other currencies like it are often criticized for their lack of privacy. While some see this as a benefit, others see it as a major flaw. The implementation of MW would give Litecoin a degree of privacy, albeit it is far from a perfect solution. Transactions can still be tracked, albeit it will become a little bit more complicated to do so. 

What is rather intriguing is how the Litecoin developers want to approach the integration of MimbleWimble. When considering such an option, it is crucial to look toward the future. Quantum computing poses a very real threat to how cryptocurrencies operate today. With that in mind, the developers have indicated they would switch to a more secure solution if quantum computing would ever break the privacy aspect of MW. As such, this upgrade would be temporary, even under the best of circumstances.

When Will Upgrades go Live?

For the time being, these proposals are nothing more than just that. They outline potential changes coming to Litecoin. That will only happen if and when the community agrees upon either of these concepts and decides to go ahead with it. Not much coding has been done regarding either LIP at this time, as it serves no purpose to put in a lot of effort for a solution that might never get accepted. 

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