<p>The power to change the Bitcoin protocol depends on the willingness of the <a href="http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Economic_majority" rel="nofollow noreferrer">economic majority</a> to adopt the changes.  </p>

<p>A <a href="http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Hardfork_Wishlist" rel="nofollow noreferrer">wishlist</a> exists of some changes that have been considered.</p>

<p>If the change is one that devalues the currency, then those who hold coins <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/8435/153">or plan to hold them</a> in the future will be less willing to adopt the change(s).  Some suggestions have been discussed and rejected so many times that a separate list of <a href="http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Prohibited_changes" rel="nofollow noreferrer">prohibited</a> change suggestions has been compiled.  If the change is one that improves Bitcoin without devaluing the currency or harming it some other way, those changes could be adopted.  If the change is not really necessary it might not be adopted, especially if there is the possibility for unintended consequences to be the result.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-29T10:15:38.890Z
2013-03-29T10:15:38.890Z
2017-04-13T12:47:36.707Z
Stephen Gornick
<p>A decentralized system can be changed, yes, if the majority of users using the system start using a changed client or the changed client is backward-compatible. The Bitcoin 0.8 upgrade caused some problems, as not everybody upgraded and 0.8 had a bug in which everybody needed to upgrade.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-29T07:47:30.527Z
2013-03-29T07:47:30.527Z
whiskers75
<p>Are we stuck with what is here now? or if 10 years down the road serious changes need to be made to the system; can that be done with a decentralized system? How would you make changes to a decentralized system like this?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-29T09:31:53.880Z
See also: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5605571/is-bitcoin-protocol-future-proof
o0'.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-29T15:23:59.173Z
Not to be pedantic, but Bitcoin is *distributed*, not *decentralized*. There's a significant difference between the two terms.
Colin Dean
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-30T05:42:34.273Z
Centralized, but the party with the central control can (and normally will) change every ten minutes -- essentially randomly, in terms of per-unit of computational strength.  That's close enough that calling it decentralized is OK in my book.
Stephen Gornick
<future-proof><futures>
Can the Bitcoin system be changed?
Bill
# Can the Bitcoin system be changed?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-03-29)

Are we stuck with what is here now? or if 10 years down the road serious changes need to be made to the system; can that be done with a decentralized system? How would you make changes to a decentralized system like this?

**Tags:** future-proof, futures

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: See also: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5605571/is-bitcoin-protocol-future-proof  
> **username_2**: Not to be pedantic, but Bitcoin is *distributed*, not *decentralized*. There's a significant difference between the two terms.  
> **username_3**: Centralized, but the party with the central control can (and normally will) change every ten minutes -- essentially randomly, in terms of per-unit of computational strength.  That's close enough that calling it decentralized is OK in my book.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2013-03-29. Score: 4

The power to change the Bitcoin protocol depends on the willingness of the [economic majority](http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Economic_majority) to adopt the changes.

A [wishlist](http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Hardfork_Wishlist) exists of some changes that have been considered.

If the change is one that devalues the currency, then those who hold coins [or plan to hold them](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/8435/153) in the future will be less willing to adopt the change(s). Some suggestions have been discussed and rejected so many times that a separate list of [prohibited](http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Prohibited_changes) change suggestions has been compiled. If the change is one that improves Bitcoin without devaluing the currency or harming it some other way, those changes could be adopted. If the change is not really necessary it might not be adopted, especially if there is the possibility for unintended consequences to be the result.


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### Answer by username_4 on 2013-03-29. Score: 0

A decentralized system can be changed, yes, if the majority of users using the system start using a changed client or the changed client is backward-compatible. The Bitcoin 0.8 upgrade caused some problems, as not everybody upgraded and 0.8 had a bug in which everybody needed to upgrade.


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