What is Segwit2x?
Bitcoin Segwit2X is a fork proposed by Jeff Garzik, that will occur on block #494,784 of Bitcoin.
The fork will be a complete replica of the current blockchain, with the following changes:
- Increasing the capacity of blocks through code optimization
- Reducing the cost and increasing the speed of payments through off-chain scaling
- Increasing the capacity of the network through block size increases
Sounds like a good change, right? Think again. It seems that almost every fork Bitcoin goes through, is just the creation of another scamcoin. Here’s everything you need to know.
What’s So Bad About It?
Behind its friendly looking “pro’s”, the Segwit2x fork is an attempt to replace the current Bitcoin development team in a hostile corporate takeover, and put Jeff Garzik in command of the entire blockchain(if successful).
If it works out in Jeff’s favor, the new-born blockchain will become everything we don’t want it to be(the opposite of Satoshi’s original vision)… Centralized. Allowing for Jeff, and the few large supporting corporations to gain full control over the largest, and most used blockchain in cryptocurrency history.
Why Is This Happening?
Bitcoin has been suffering from a scalability issue. Due to the large amounts of transactions happening at once, the network is failing to keep up… Transactions are taking longer than they should as the blocks can only hold so many transactions, and the block sizes are either too small, or take too long to complete.
The New York Agreement.
Most major BTC corporations, and pools signed off on the agreement that upon the addition of a fix for the issue(increased block size), they will follow through and support the fork by running all of their nodes/services on the new blockchains code.
This agreement was signed in June of 2017, and titled the “New York Agreement”.
At the inception of the New York Agreement, 58 companies located in 22 countries, and a whopping 83.28% of Bitcoin’s hashing power had signed in support of it.
Thankfully, since it’s signing, a few companies and pools have pulled their promise from the agreement after finding the true goal of the rogue developer. Most notably(and recently), mining pools Slush and F2Pool, which together account for 13% of Bitcoin’s hashing power, at the time of writing.
The Role Of Pool Operators In The Fork.
(older chart above)
Pool operators(in which miners use and support), must run nodes using, the software code Bitcoin is using. It’s up to the pool operators whether or not they will run the Segwit forked code, or continue using Bitcoin’s current code.
If these pools(or even just AntPool) decide to switch to Segwit2x’s code, Bitcoin could possibly lose a large amount of its hashing power, which is needed to support its large amount of transactions. In the event of a large amount of pool operators supporting the fork, the original Bitcoin blockchain will become even slower.
The commercial interest for corporations(and for those who got trapped in the New York Agreement), such as exchanges, nodes, and etc, would be to support the fork, as it allows for faster block and transaction times, as opposed to decentralization. This is a prime example of the compromises greed causes corporations to make.
The only way that the original Bitcoin will survive(which it most likely will), is if most of it’s users/miners move to non-segwit supporting services, which are pools, nodes, exchanges, etc.
Is It Safe To Hold My BTC In An Exchange?
Normally I’d say no. So, now I’m going to suggest, hell no.
Some exchanges that are supporting the fork, may convert their users BTC, into the new currency formed(which will surely be worth a lot less than the original BTC holding). Who know’s what they would do with the BTC that’s taken… They might just sell it for themselves. There it is again, greed.
For the moment, I’ve put all of my cryptocurrency assets into altcoins(GRS, VTC, LTC, NXS, etc), as I feel this fork will do permanent damage to Bitcoin’s growth pattern, and bring a large amount of assets back towards the other coins(the ones I’m holding, hopefully).
Conclusion
The Segwit2x fork, counters an issue with a fix. However, makes it’s supporters compromise with the removal of decentralization… After all, that was the 2nd biggest point in Bitcoins creation, following a fix to the double spending problem.
Whether or not you support the fork, is up to you… However I feel the right choice, is quite obvious.
As always, do more research than reading one article. Look at it from other views.
Sources:
CoinDesk, NoxCow, Fortune, and the evil man known as Jeff Garzik.
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