Coinwallet.EU's planned 'stress test' of the Bitcoin network's capacity limitations failed part-way through, after its 'BitcoinD servers' crashed at 17:00 GMT yesterday.
Summarizing the results in a reddit post, the company said that the servers were restarted but ultimately generated only 15% of the intended transactions. The test only managed to create a 15 MB backlog, well short of the 200 MB goal.
It follows that most network participants felt little or no difference in the pace of transaction confirmations. Some wallet providers reported that transactions with lower fees took noticeably longer. However, the planned paralysis of the network did not materialize.
The test was to officially end after 24 hours, at 13:00 GMT today. Coinwallet.EU plans on conducting another test in 7 days.
Community Perception
The Bitcoin community has recently been embroiled in a heated debate over whether the block size should be increased. From this perspective, many were looking forward to see what comes out of the stress test in a real-world scenario.
For the most part, however, community attitude ranged from lukewarm to highly cynical. Some suggested that such tests are better conducted on Bitcoin's Testnet , so as not to upset the live Bitcoin economy. Some felt that the test was malicious, comparing it to a denial of service (DoS) attack.
Others countered that the testnet does not have all the attributes needed to make the test meaningful. And besides, a bad actor would not go for the testnet.
Others pointed to the fact that Coinwallet.EU, previously unheard of in the industry, is using the test to make its name known. Skeptics alleged that the company seems to have come into existence solely to conduct the test. Its website lists no physical address, and does not disclose the identities of its principals.
