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Op-Ed: SegWit is the Future, Garnering Bitcoin’s Elusive Emergent Consensus

Last Updated March 4, 2021 4:57 PM
P. H. Madore
Last Updated March 4, 2021 4:57 PM

Over 85% of Bitcoin mining pools and mining outfits now intend to integrate SegWit later in the year. Almost twice as many are saying that they are signaling intent, or the 2x method of signaling, while half of those same operators are also signaling that they will integrate the Segregated Witness scaling solution come August 1st. This is an important distinction, as there is a lot of speculation that the two sides of the Bitcoin scaling debate may almost reach a conclusive truce before backing out on their agreements and forking the network anyway.

Courtesy: Coin.dance

 

Segregated Witness does not necessarily mean that larger blocks will not later be necessary, which is an important point that is not often discussed. The 2x agreement entails that expansion of blocksize will be on the table after the SW solution is fully enacted. Whether or not this takes place is in on the horizon, and how the various parties conduct themselves will probably be of the utmost importance to market analysts and, of course, competing digital currencies.

Yet, the breaking of the blocksize stalemate will not mean the end of the alternative cryptocurrency resurgence. Instead, there are multiple fiat to cryptocurrency pairs that can be leveraged trading these new tokens, and this is partially why some alternatives will continue to retain high value even if lots of money floods away and back into Bitcoin. The hard truth of the matter is that the crypto economy is only just beginning, and newcomers are bringing fiat capital which they must then exchange for any a number of tokens. This expansion will, in the future, be enjoyed first by more than just Bitcoin. You will see more Dash to Cash exchanges, more Ethereum to Fiat exchanges. It will become the norm, and more independent valuations will also emerge as a result.

Nevertheless, that mining pool operators are at least almost in agreement about something (one suspects it’s just a matter of laziness or ignorance with the remaining small percentage) is a good thing for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general. The brinksmanship that has been displayed by too many parties will hopefully not carry on into the future. That sort of behavior is better left to politics. The crypto markets are volatile enough without political factors and moral hazards everywhere we turn.

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