Marathon backs Taproot upgrade on Bitcoin network

US-based Marathon Digital Holdings has announced that its MaraPool mining pool will support the Taproot upgrade on the Bitcoin network.

$MARA @MarathonDH CEO @fgthiel comments on migration to standard #bitcoin core 0.211 node and support for Taproot. Please find the full video and following press release: https://t.co/I4gZXtMeMp https://t.co/AW293bBSmg

— Marathon Digital Holdings (@MarathonDH) May 31, 2021

“Marathon adheres to the core principles of the Bitcoin community … In the coming week, we will upgrade all of our miners,” said Fred Thiel, the company’s chief executive.

Supporters of the upgrade embed a special data field in mined blocks called the “signal bit.” The first to implement it was the SlushPool.

The activation method Speedy Trial was included in the release Bitcoin Core 0.21.1, which occurred on May 2.

The activation mechanism envisages a three-month window through August 11. During this period, in any of the roughly two-week intervals between difficulty adjustments, 90% of mined blocks must carry the corresponding signal. If this condition is met, Taproot will be activated in November 2021.

According to Taproot Watch, at the time of writing MaraPool had not yet signaled support. In the same list are ArkPool and an unknown group of miners.

The upgrade will be one of the most significant in Bitcoin’s history. In addition to improving scalability and privacy, it aims to enhance network functionality and coin fungibility.

Earlier in May, five mining pools signaled support for Taproot; Binance Pool announced its stance on May 17.