As of about an hour ago, SegWit has reached the lock-in threshold for Bitcoin.
That means it is no longer up for debate whether SegWit will actually be implemented or not, but rather a when will it be implemented!
Today, at block 479,707 Bitcoin reached the necessary threshold for SegWit to lock in with 100% of mining pools signaling support for the proposal.
Bitcoin is doing quite well on the news, up about $80 to around $3420 from the time it was known SegWit was for sure going to lock in.
It's technically not technically official, technically.
But, technically it is.
The official lock in won't happen until tomorrow morning once this signalling period has ended at block 479,808. But, for all intents and purposes, it's locked in.
100% of mining pools have signaled support.
The fat lady is singing!
*This all important block was mined by BitClub, actually it is not all that important but fun to note never the less.
What happens next?
I am glad you asked!
Well now that SegWit is locked in, that doesn't mean each block from here on out will be updated with SegWit. Instead there will be a two week grace period to give miners and other users (exchanges) a chance to upgrade their software.
That would place us squarely on August 21st at block 481,824 for actual implementation of SegWit.
Once that 2 week grace period ends (August 21st), SegWit will activate and the miners will start rejecting any blocks that do not support the SegWit changes.
What will SegWit do exactly?
That has been spelled out in several posts in the past, but basically the hope is that it will help Bitcoin scale. It will increase the block sizes from 1 MB to 2 MB and will hopefully help with speed and transaction costs.
There are several other benefits as well that I won't really go into here.
More about SegWit can be read here:
https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@jrcornel/a-new-signaling-period-for-segwit-just-started
Basically, this is the dawning of a new era for Bitcoin.
The SegWit chapter can finally be closed.
SegWit was first proposed by developer Pieter Wuille back in 2015. It has been mulled about ever since.
Here we are 2 years later and it is finally being implemented.
Hopefully this will help with the scaling and confirmation issues. We will know a lot more in a few weeks.
We will talk again about this around August 21st (or shortly thereafter) and see if there are any notable changes at that time.
Stay informed my friends!
Sources:
https://www.coindesk.com/its-official-segregated-witness-will-activate-on-bitcoin/
Image Sources:
https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/guides/what-is-segwit/
https://bit-media.org/news/breaking-news-bitcoin-bip91-locked-in-for-segwit-activation-1-august-2017/
https://www.cheapoair.com/miles-away/6-insanely-cool-spots-on-this-earth-that-will-blow-your-mind/
Follow me: @jrcornel