Bitcoin Price Breaks $4,893 as Investors Lose Confidence in SegWit2x
Earlier today, on October 10, the Bitcoin price surpassed $4,893, demonstrating strong upward momentum and confidence from investors over the global Bitcoin market.
In a span of three days, since October 7, the Bitcoin price surged from $4,300 to $4,893, recording a staggering $593 increase in a relatively short period of time. But, most analysts have not expected the Bitcoin price to demonstrate such momentum and increase in demand from major markets such as Japan, the US, and South Korea, due to the SegWit2x hard fork scheduled for November.
SegWit2x: Businesses and Exchanges are Divided as Users Lose Confidence
This week, some of the largest Bitcoin wallet and cryptocurrency exchanges including Coinbase and Bitfinex have reaffirmed their stance on the upcoming SegWit2x hard fork. The Bitfinex development team revealed that it plans to utilize the moniker “B2X” to list the SegWit2x fork of Bitcoin upon the completion of its hard fork in November.
“We have elected to designate the Segwit2x fork as B2X, for now. The incumbent implementation will continue to trade as BTC even if the B2X chain has more hashing power. We are doing this for practical and operational reasons. Political considerations are irrelevant here. While we cannot change or re-assign ticker symbols, we can change the label or description associated with that ticker symbol. For the time being, BTC will continue to be labeled as ‘Bitcoin,’ and B2X will be labeled as ‘B2X,’” wrote the Bitfinex development team.
It is important to acknowledge the decision of Bitfinex and Coinbase to list the SegWit2x coin as B2X even if it has more hashing power upon its fork because investors and traders will likely remain on the legacy chain or the original Bitcoin blockchain. Bitfinex and Coinbase have taken the appropriate approach in allowing the market to decide which form of Bitcoin evolves into the majority chain. At the current stage, it is highly likely that the legacy chain will remain as the majority blockchain after the hard fork.
In November, the market, investors, and users will decide which Bitcoin blockchain will be referred to as “Bitcoin” and “BTC.” Under normal circumstances, in weeks and months ahead of a highly contentious hard fork like SegWit2x, the price of Bitcoin should struggle to recover beyond its previous highs and secure upward momentum. But, recently, it has been the exact opposite. The Bitcoin price has surpassed $4,893, quickly approaching its all-time high established prior to the ban on cryptocurrency exchanges by the Chinese government.
Market’s Confidence and Bitcoin Price Surge Demonstrates Lack of Support For SegWit2x
Despite the upcoming hard fork, the Bitcoin price is increasing at a rapid rate and trading activities in major regions such as Japan and the US are also growing exponentially. As CCN.com previously reported, Bitcoin analyst and investor Tuur Demeester noted that the Bitcoin price has a chance of achieving the interim target of $5,000 if SegWit2x turns out to be a minority fork.
“The charts need to confirm, but if the Bitcoin 2X hard fork turns out to be a nothingburger, it could provide tailwinds for a rally and $5,000,” explained Demeester.
So far, the market has demonstrated that SegWit2x hard fork would likely turn out to be a “nothingburger,” as Demeester emphasized.
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