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BTC-Cash-Feature

On August 2, Bitcoin–easily the most valuable single cryptocurrency past orders of magnitude–suddenly forked when a group of users decided not to support the adoption of changes to the blockchain system proponents claimed would make BTC transactions faster. Correct at present, there are two forks, or divisions in Bitcoin: Bitcoin Cash, and Bitcoin. Bitcoin Cash supports a block size of upwards to 8MB and does non implement a feature called segregated witness, which stores some transaction data outside the blockchain to free up space for more transactions. Bitcoin, in contrast, has stuck with 1MB blocks and does implement segregated witness. And then far, so good.

The next fork will implement a feature known equally SegWit2x. Equally the name implies, this agreement will cover two primary features: 2MB blocks (updated from 1MB) and the same segregated witness feature now shared past Bitcoin. This was appear on the SegWit2x Github repository.

There are a variety of arguments for or against increasing the block size, which nosotros'll summarize here. Reasons to expand information technology include promoting early adoption by keeping fees low, approving more than transactions per second, and creating more than infinite for off-chain extensions. Cons accept included the risk of catastrophic non-consensus, creating a more centralized system (direct antonymous to Bitcoin'south libertarian pattern and values), and that the more the network is controlled by a handful of players, the greater the trust is required to use BTC.

This latter point might seem like a non-issue, just the unabridged point of Bitcoin was to create a method of processing transactions that didn't require trust. For many people, these changes weaken fundamental precepts of the network, which is why they've been so hotly argued.

On Github, Jeff Garzik writes:

Segregated Witness support has been locked-in equally a soft fork expected to activate around August 23 2022 (block height 481,824). Bitcoin clients that are non currently SegWit-compatible and wish to benefit from the new type of transaction must perform all-encompassing upgrades to various subsystems, including changes to transaction serialization, signature hash computation, block weight adding, scripting engine, block validation, a new address scheme, and P2P protocol upgrades. Fortunately Segregated Witness compatibility is opt-in, and existing Simplifed Payment Verification (SPV) wallets and total nodes are expected to go along working without changes later on SegWit activates.

There is, all the same, some other danger here. For all the hopes its various users have placed on Bitcoin and the sometimes staggering corporeality of money they've invested into it, BTC's long-term success is non yet certain or guaranteed. One of the things that could kill it is if the network keeps forking in various means, according to the goals of a smaller and smaller group of people. We're not maxim that's a pre-ordained outcome past any means, only forking twice in several months isn't a groovy vote of confidence, either.

With the above said, there's also an argument to be made that these changes are the natural result of different groups choosing to prioritize unlike things. The unabridged reason Bitcoin Cash is named that way is because its developers wanted to name it for the types of transactions they're hoping it'll be used for. Smaller block sizes favor transaction fees and big stakeholders, non the smaller group of miners trying to generate some BTC to sell or utilize personally.

In the meantime, the value of a single Bitcoin has skyrocketed in contempo weeks, and sits at $4,427 at the time of this writing.

Now read: What is the Blockchain?