EMERGING TECH
EMERGING TECH
EMERGING TECH
Bitcoin survives first weekend following BIP91 software upgrade
Bitcoin has survived its first weekend following an agreement to implement a software upgrade designed to allow the cryptocurrency to scale and operate more efficiently.
The upgrade, referred to as BIP91, involves the implementation of the Segwit2x code that changes the transaction structure of the bitcoin blockchain to increase a cap on the amount of data that can be stored in transaction blocks.
Implementation of any change to the way bitcoin currently works has long been a contentious issue within the bitcoin community, not helped in the least by the fact that implementing a change to the code has to be supported by most if not all participants in the community.
Various proposals on a bitcoin fork have been proposed previously, including the original Segregated Witness proposal and then later a different proposal called Bitcoin Unlimited. But neither of those proposals came close in gaining enough support to move forward, leading to speculation of a war that could have seen bitcoin split into two separate cryptocurrencies.
What has changed with the implementation of BIP 91 is that in perhaps a kumbaya moment for bitcoin, nearly all players in the space have now indicated support. Reuters reported that bitcoin miners, who confirm transactions and create new bitcoins by a solving computational problems, signaled their support on Friday. That support is essential to the implementation of any change.
When the change may occur is another question. Aug. 1 is being mentioned as the implementation date for the change, but some reports suggest that the miners have already activated one of the SegWit2x upgrades, meaning that the change may go live earlier.
Whatever the date, the agreement on the implementation of BIP91 means that a split in bitcoin has now most likely been avoided. That should mean boosted confidence for bitcoin investors going forward.
Bitcoin surged after the news broke Friday. The price rose nearly $500, to $2,756, before settling in relatively flat trading at the weekend as investors took a wait-and-see approach prior to BIP91 going live.
Photo: btckeychain/Flickr
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