SegWit2x Back from the Dead? Team of Fans Picks Up the Mantle

Published on December 28, 2017 by Cryptovest Staff

SegWit2x made a lot of headlines last month before it was called off, but it seems like a couple of supporters are going to go ahead with the hard fork on December 28, 2017.

Proposed as a solution to Bitcoin’s scaling issues, SegWit2x was agreed upon at the New York Agreement and was supported by a ton of big names and corporate entities.

However, the core Bitcoin community considered it an attack on the original chain, and after a lot of back and forth and drama, Mike Belshe, CEO of Bitgo, posted a letter calling off the hard fork:

“Our goal has always been a smooth upgrade for Bitcoin. Although we strongly believe in the need for a larger blocksize, there is something we believe is even more important: keeping the community together. Unfortunately, it is clear that we have not built sufficient consensus for a clean blocksize upgrade at this time. Continuing on the current path could divide the community and be a setback to Bitcoin’s growth. This was never the goal of Segwit2x.”

The issue with SegWit2x was that its proposed method, increasing Bitcoin’s block size from 1MB to 2MB, would require a non-backwards compatible software upgrade.

However, while it seemed that SegWit2x was put to bed by the original backers, now a new site has come up, with four team members, led by one, Jaap Terlouw, who plan to execute the fork:

“Commission and transaction speed within the Bitcoin network has reached extraordinary values. It is almost impossible to use it as a means of payment. Our team will carry out the Bitcoin hard fork, which was planned for mid-November. At the same time, trading of its futures has been carried out on some exchanges for a long time. HitBTC is among them. I promise that all BTC holders will receive not only B2X in the ratio of 1 to 1, but also a proportional number of Satoshi Nakamoto`s Bitcoins as a reward for their commitment to progress.”

Additionally, this new team has also revealed a roadmap for future updates, including Lightning Network support, ZkSnark and Smart Contracts – features they believe will make the new fork “the perfect Bitcoin”.

While it remains to be seen how this new SegWit2x fork pans out, starting at block 501451, it should be noted that this fork is not the same as the original SegWit2x and does not have the original backers supporting it.