Hi everyone. This is just a quick update on the activation of SegWit (Segregated Witness) on the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain :)
Segregated Witness (SegWit) will be activating on the BTC blockchain in less than three hours from posting time (around Aug 24th at 1:45UTC). To find out how much time is left before activation, visit segwit.party!
What's SegWit?
SegWit is a technology/process that increases the Bitcoin blocksize limit. However, instead of altering the hard limit, it removes ("segregates") the transaction signature ("witness") data from the transactions themselves. SegWit also provides opportunities for services such as the BTC Lightning Network, which theoretically can allow for lightning-fast low-fee transactions on Bitcoin. Additionally, SegWit may even help reduce high BTC transaction fees and help transactions confirm quicker on the network.
The activation of SegWit can vary depending on many factors, ranging from:
- block mining time/difficulty
- hash rate fluctuations
and others, though we're close enough to assume that SegWit will activate in the next three or four hours (10 blocks). You can always go to this link to view the estimated SegWit activation time, or vistit XBT.eu for another precise activation time estimate, and the exact number of blocks left before activation.
See you in a few hours at the SegWit party ;)
Thanks for reading,
— @mooncryption
Edit: Updated activation times (new predicted time is about 1:42 UTC Aug 24th)
Edit 2: SegWit has activated (as of 1:55 UTC Aug 24th).