When Will Bitcoin's Taproot Upgrade ‘Lock In’?

With 94% of Bitcoin's hashrate now signaling for the upgrade, it should lock in during the next difficulty period.

AccessTimeIconMay 19, 2021 at 6:45 p.m. UTC
Updated Aug 19, 2021 at 9:32 a.m. UTC

Presented By Icon

Election 2024 coverage presented by

Stand with crypto

Taproot now has more than the required minimum of miners signaling support to lock in the upgrade, but the upgrade isn’t a shoe-in just yet.

Per the activation rules set by Speedy Trial, 90% of blocks mined within one of Bitcoin’s difficulty periods need to signal support for the upgrade for it to be locked in for activation in November.

  • Bitcoin Mining in the U.S. Will Become 'a Lot More Decentralized': Core Scientific CEO
    13:18
    Bitcoin Mining in the U.S. Will Become 'a Lot More Decentralized': Core Scientific CEO
  • Binance to Discontinue Its Nigerian Naira Services After Government Scrutiny
    05:10
    Binance to Discontinue Its Nigerian Naira Services After Government Scrutiny
  • The first video of the year 2024
    04:07
    The first video of the year 2024
  • The last regression video of the year 3.67.0
    40:07
    The last regression video of the year 3.67.0
  • Currently, mining pools that represent 94% of Bitcoin’s hashrate have now included the Taproot “signal bit” to show their support for the upgrade. But it won’t be until the next difficulty period that we could see the upgrade locked in because the current difficulty period has already seen too many non-signaling blocks for miners to hit the threshold.

    A visualization of this period's signaling percentage.
    A visualization of this period's signaling percentage.

    Bitcoin’s next difficulty adjustment is in approximately nine days. This next adjustment will mark the third of six possible signaling periods under Taproot’s Speedy Trial activation process, which began on May 1.

    Czechia-based Slushpool was the first mining pool to signal for the upgrade, followed by Foundry, F2Pool, Poolin and Antpool. Notably, mining pools have signaled, un-signaled and re-signaled for a variety of reasons so the signaling percentage can oscillate. Poolin's signal, for example, dropped off in response to technical snafus while BTC.com's recently changed its status from signaling to not signaling for unknown reasons.

    What is Bitcoin's Taproot upgrade?

    Taproot is Bitcoin’s most anticipated upgrade since SegWit. The actual change, an alteration to two lines of code, is minimal, but Taproot will outfit Bitcoin with a new signature scheme known as Schnorr signatures.

    These signatures pave the way for advanced transaction logic (what the cool kids call “smart contracts”), which will make things like multisignature transactions cheaper and more data efficient (while also giving them a privacy boost by making them look the same as regular transactions on the blockchain). 

    In addition to multisignature wallets, the upgrade will be a boon for the Lightning Network and other Bitcoin technologies like discreet log contracts (DLC). 

    Disclosure

    Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information have been updated.

    CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of the Bullish group, which owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish group equity-based compensation. Bullish was incubated by technology investor Block.one.


    Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.