Coinbase launches the Bitcoin batch in a time of severe crisis

Coinbase has finally implemented the Bitcoin batch, allowing for fewer commissions and less congestion on the Bitcoin network.

Bitcoin crashes but technology grows

Bitcoin's price continues to plummet. During the night it touched the minimum value for 2020 of $ 4000 and then went up again to about $ 5300 this morning, a value literally halved compared to the maximum peak of this year.

Fear of coronavirus is spreading across the United States and Bitcoin is proving that it is not immune to it. But the effects are also seen on the total market capitalization that affects all cryptocurrencies.

However, these circumstances did not stop the development of the technology and strategies behind US cryptocurrencies. Coinbase recently announced a new feature on its platform: the expected "batch of Bitcoin transactions".

The company said that this feature will reduce network fees for users and free up space on the Bitcoin blockchain. "This will allow the network to increase transaction productivity and increase scalability," the company said in a blog.

How batching works

The Bitcoin transaction batch works by packing the transactions into a block, rather than letting a single transaction occupy a block all by itself. "A bulk transaction that fulfills multiple user submission requests takes up less space in each block than a single user transaction that is processed individually," said the company.

"In other words: the whole is less than the sum of the parts when it comes to Bitcoin transactions," added Coinbase. In the blog post, Coinbase referred to how the transaction fees had come to around $ 30 at some point, probably in reference to the 2017 phase.

However, in the same post Coinbase notes that today similar commissions are worth about 30 cents.

Does this feature come late? And doesn't it do too little?

Some Bitcoiners have voiced their criticisms of Coinbase for waiting so long to launch this feature. Last year and the previous year, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said batching would soon go live after users complained about the high commission value.

Meanwhile, competitors such as the San Francisco-based Kraken exchange and portfolio providers such as Samourai have launched batching features for several years.

Potential disadvantages for privacy

Despite the announcement, some users have pointed out that there may be some disadvantages in protecting privacy during batch transactions on proven platforms such as Bitcoin Pro. In a blog post in 2017, Bitcoin.org contributor David A Harding, he had observed that batch transactions on Kraken allow other blockchain explorers to see the addresses of all who have been