Sia Fork FAQs
Sia Fork FAQs
As an addendum to David’s long-form post on the upcoming fork, we are providing this condensed list of expected questions and their answers. More entries may be added as we engage with the community and learn what their primary concerns are.
Fork Decision
Why has Sia’s core team decided to fork now? Why not back in January?
At Nebulous, we believe that blockchains must be governed by the collective will of their users. Undeniably, we hold a privileged position within the Sia ecosystem: we write the majority of the code, and we control what outside code is merged into the main repository. It is our responsibility, then, to ensure that the code we release represents the will of the users. Unfortunately, there is no infallible process for ensuring that we have fulfilled that obligation; we can only use our best judgment. And if it turns out we have judged wrongly, we must correct the mistake and strive to do better.
In January, the correct course of action was not clear. We were all taken by surprise, and the conversation around forking quickly devolved. The discourse was more like a shouting match than a measured debate, and as such, there was no hope of accurately gauging the collective sentiment of the community. Despite many core team members strongly supporting a fork, we ultimately could not justify acting rashly in a period muddied by so much uncertainty.
Today, tempers have cooled considerably, and we can assess the consequences of our decision as well as the current sentiment. Everything we know indicates that a substantial majority of Sia’s users — its renters, hosts, traders, and developers — support forking to escape the grip of unethical mining manufacturers. Given that state of affairs, it is in keeping with our duty as maintainers to act in accordance with their will. The decision to fork, of course, ultimately rests with the users: we cannot force anyone to run the fork code that we release. But if we continue to withhold that code, we deny our users the autonomy to make that choice at all.
What is Nebulous’ philosophy on mining?
Nebulous views miners as providing a service that benefits the users of the network. While both miners and users are necessary to a healthy cryptocurrency, the needs of users must always be prioritized over the needs of miners. Blockchains do not exist to make money for miners; miners exist to provide security for blockchains. Consequently, when miners harm a network, users have no obligation to turn the other cheek; in fact, they have an obligation to each other to preserve the value of their network by whatever means necessary.
Why not invalidate all ASIC miners?
Based on the recent attacks that other cryptocurrencies have experienced, we strongly believe that ASICs are mandatory to ensure adequate protection from 51% attacks. Although an ASIC monopoly is not ideal, it is better than exposing Sia to drive-by attacks from large GPU mining farms. As stated in David’s post, we would love to see multiple ethical mining manufacturers competing for a share of the Sia hashrate, and Nebulous will oppose any fork that seeks to invalidate the hardware of ethical manufacturers.
Why has Sia’s core team decided against implementing a dev fee?
Some members of the community have suggested that the fork also include a dev fee (a percentage of each block reward paid directly to the developers of Sia). The consensus on adding a dev fee is less clear than the consensus on forking the proof-of-work algorithm, so at this time we will not be adding a dev fee.
A dev fee goes against our principles of decentralization and misaligns our incentives. We have long held that tying a company’s success to the price of its utility token is not a healthy model. Other cryptocurrencies, notably Bitcoin, have demonstrated that active development is not contingent on a dev fee. Nebulous is a for-profit company, and a dev fee (especially a temporary fee) is not a legitimate means of achieving profitability. Instead, Nebulous is currently raising capital through traditional equity financing.
Will the Sia core team support dissenting forks?
The fork code will be released in a manner that makes it easy to maintain a dissenting fork. While Nebulous will not be maintaining a dissenting fork or providing binaries for such a fork, it will be trivial for another maintainer to do so. When the core team makes improvements to the Sia renter or wallet code, for example, those improvements can be cleanly copied into the dissenting fork’s code as well. Maintaining a fork only requires applying these changes on a regular basis and building binaries to distribute to users.
Provided that a dissenting fork preserves the Siafund fee, users of that fork are still welcome in the Sia community, and can still receive help from our official support channels for any features released by the core team. We want to make it clear to users that they, not Nebulous, are the final arbiters of whether the fork succeeds.
Fork Logistics
When will the fork occur?
The fork will activate on October 31st, 2018. Nebulous will release v1.3.6 of siad and Sia-UI at least two weeks prior to the fork. v1.3.6 will be identical to v1.3.5 except for the inclusion of fork-related code, making it easy for dissenting forks to build on top of v1.3.5.
We acknowledge that this is a short timeframe. Unfortunately, the nature of this fork means that time is of the essence. We will be offering assistance to anyone who needs help upgrading to v1.3.6.
How do I make sure I am running the forked version?
If you are using software released by Nebulous, v1.3.6 of siad and Sia-UI will contain the new fork code, while v1.3.5 (and earlier) do not. If you are using third-party software, check their documentation. Like previous releases, v1.3.6 will be available for download on our website.
Will there be an airdrop? How do I get my fork tokens?
An airdrop is when the maintainer of a cryptocurrency distributes free tokens to users, typically as a way to promote a new coin. No such airdrop will occur on the Nebulous-backed chain. Maintainers of dissenting forks are free to promote their fork however they like, including airdrops.
Siacoins existing prior to the fork will be spendable on either side of the fork, while siacoins created after the fork will not. If you are currently storing your siacoins on an exchange, you may not receive the corresponding tokens on dissenting forks. If you want to ensure that you can spend these tokens, we recommend withdrawing your siacoins to a wallet that you control before the fork activates.
Are exchanges going to support the fork?
To support the fork, exchanges simply need to upgrade to v1.3.6 of siad when it is released. We expect all exchanges that currently trade Siacoin to support the fork, and we will be contacting them to provide information and technical support.
How does the fork affect Sia’s storage network?
As with siacoins, file contracts formed before the fork will remain valid on both sides of the fork. However, once the chains diverge, renters will not be able to form contracts with hosts on the other side of the fork. As a renter, no action is required: if some of your hosts move to a different chain, your software will automatically replace them with new hosts.
Where can I go to get more information about the fork?
There will be announcements and discussion of the fork on our usual social media channels, Reddit and Discord. For important updates, we recommend subscribing to our email list.
Mining
What do I need to do if I have an Obelisk miner?
To continue mining post-fork, you will need to update your firmware to the latest version, which the Obelisk team will release prior to the fork. No other changes are necessary.
What if I have a non-Obelisk miner?
ASIC mining hardware will still be effective on dissenting forks. GPU miners will be able to mine on the post-fork chain once their software is updated with the alterations to the proof-of-work algorithm.