Book Club Series: The Blocksize War (Austin Software Cooperatives) Part 8
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## Book Club Series: The Blocksize War (Austin Software Cooperatives) Part 8
We’re kicking off a multi‑part reading group on The Blocksize War—a narrative of the 2015–2017 fight over Bitcoin’s blocksize and the deeper question of who gets to change rules in a decentralized system. We’ll use the story as a springboard to explore protocol governance, incentives, credible commitment, soft‑ vs hard‑fork dynamics, user coordination (UASF), and “exit vs. voice”—with applied takeaways for cooperative organizations.
Focus: governance lessons, not price or trading.
### What we’ll cover
**\ *Who governs a system with no boss? **Nodes, miners, devs, exchanges, users—and what “consensus” really means.
*\ **Mechanism design & change control: **Soft forks vs. hard forks, signaling, activation thresholds, the role of credible exit.
**\ *Power and legitimacy: **Why “coalitions” (e.g., NYA) aren’t the same as consensus; why simple rules beat back‑room deals.
*\ **Operational tradeoffs: **Throughput vs. decentralization; client diversity; backward compatibility.
**\ *Co‑op parallels: **Consent‑based changes, transparency rituals, and how to avoid “Fiat” control returning through process complexity.
### Schedule (First Wednesdays)
-*\ Session 1 — Wed, Nov 5, 2025*** Origins & Fault Lines (2009–2015): Throughput vs. decentralization; early “big‑block” proposals; why blocksize became a governance lever.Session 2 — Wed, Dec 3, 2025* 2016: The Great Schism: SegWit design goals, miner signaling, exchanges, and “agreements” vs. actual consensus.
Session 3 — Wed, Jan 7, 2026 2017: UASF to Resolution*: BIP‑level coordination, user activation, SegWit2x’s collapse, and the BCH split—lessons on credible commitment and collective action.
Session 4 — Wed, Feb 4, 2026 Aftermath & Lessons for Co‑ops*: What decentralized governance got right and wrong; translating principles into cooperative bylaws, comp, and decision rights.
### Who should attend
Engineers, product folks, co‑op builders, protocol‑curious organizers, and anyone interested in change management without a traditional hierarchy.
### Prep
*Get a copy of* The Blocksize War\ *(any edition).
*Session 1 reading: Preface + early chapters on scaling debates and blocksize proposals.
*Bring 1–2 questions you want answered about decentralized change control (e.g., “How do we prevent a tiny group from pushing risky changes?”).
### Details
*** When:** First Wednesday of the month starting Nov 5, 2025, 7:00–8:15 PM Central (CT)
***Where: **Zoom (link sent to RSVPs day‑of) or in‑person if announced
*** Code of conduct: **Be civil; critique ideas, not people. No investment advice.
### Why this matters for co‑ops
The blocksize saga is a rare, well‑documented case of** large‑scale, boss‑less coordination under pressure**. It shows how** clear rules, credible user action, and transparent signaling can beat power plays—insight you can apply to bylaws, compensation changes, product governance, and member rights **in your cooperative.
**RSVP to save your seat. **Questions you want covered? Drop them in the event comments so we can prioritize them.