Segwit2x hard fork abandoned — what happened and why
Bitcoin price reached a record high on Wednesday, as news broke that the Segwit2x hardfork had been cancelled. The highly contentious hardfork, which was considered an upgrade to Bitcoin, would have increased the base block size to 2MB and was the second part of the New York Agreement (NYA) scaling plan.
Blockstream vs miners – looking at the incentives around the SegWit2x fork
The past few months in the Bitcoin community have been filled with discussion of an upcoming hardfork - SegWit2x. There have been a lot of people voicing their opinion on the matter of whether that fork should be allowed to pass or not, but today I would like to look at who I believe to be two key players in this debate - Blockstream (opposing SegWit2x) and the miners, the core signatories of the New York Agreement. More specifically, I will be focusing on the incentives both of those parties have when it comes to dealing with SegWit2x.
Segwit2X — Forked from the get-go?
Announced on May 23rd, The New York Agreement (NYA) is the contract between the Bitcoin miners who represent the majority of Bitcoin’s hashing power, and a group of over 50 other businesses, to implement the Bitcoin software upgrade Segwit2x. While it’s no secret that the NYA isn’t loved by everyone in the Bitcoin community, a series of events on October 24th left many wondering if the agreement might unravel entirely — leaving the project with no path forward to achieve its goal of upgrading Bitcoin and increasing its block size.
A Bitcoin hardfork — the basics explained
As controversy and infighting continue around Bitcoin’s looming hardfork, some clarity about what exactly a hardfork is should go some way towards calming investor fears. To explain a hardfork, let me use an analogy: imagine a group of miners (nodes/ computers) are digging a tunnel (blockchain).
Bitcoin Core developers issue Segwit2x hard fork warning
On Wednesday morning, the Bitcoin Core development team released a rare statement concerning the safety of Bitcoin users’ coins during the potential hard fork for Segwit2x, which is scheduled to occur in November. The developers state that the hard fork is not supported by the majority of the Bitcoin users and developers, which makes it contentious, and therefore puts many user's bitcoins at risk if they store them with the wrong services.
