Segwit2x is suspended, will Bitcoin not split?

The Segwit2x hard fork plan has been suspended, but the disputes and divisions in Bitcoin have not stopped. The two camps will not break down barriers and shake hands just because one of them temporarily gives up. Various stakeholders will still achieve their goals in their own way.

Daily quarrels between big players in the cryptocurrency circle

Yesterday, BitGo CEO Mike Belshe sent an email saying that because the community did not reach sufficient consensus, they decided to suspend the upcoming 2MB hard fork plan.

“As Bitcoin transaction fees rise, we believe on-chain scaling is necessary, and when that happens, we hope the community can come together and reach consensus to increase block size.”

At the end of the email, major supporters of the 2X hard fork, including Wu Jihan and Jeff Garzik, all signed their names.

In response, Bitcoin expert and Satoshi Portal CEO Francis Pouliot tweeted:

“Segwit2X died the same way it was born, by following a closed protocol signed by CEOs. If a base-level Segwit2X community already existed, this would be a betrayal for them.”

In fact, such “mutual attacks” between the two camps in the expansion dispute have almost become a daily occurrence. Judging from the results of the New York Consensus, the core camp seems to have a slight advantage in this expansion war. However, when developers are happily preparing to continue the development of Bitcoin functions, the voices of division have not stopped.

The nascent Bitcoin Diamond and the steadfast S2X

Bitcoin Diamond (BCD)

On the afternoon of November 9, a few hours after segwit2x announced its suspension, a team called the Bitcoin Diamond Foundation emerged and said they would fork Bitcoin at block 495866, and the resulting token would be called Bitcoin Diamond (BCD).

From the information given on the Bitcoin Diamond official website, it can be seen that they define themselves as "a type of Bitcoin blockchain that retains the original characteristics of Bitcoin while using upgraded technology." It is understood that Bitcoin Diamond will use a new workload verification algorithm to create blocks, and will also introduce a series of encryption technologies to enhance the privacy protection of accounts. After the hard fork, the original Bitcoin users can obtain Bitcoin Diamond at a ratio of 1BTC:10BCD.

In addition, they also plan to increase the block size to 8M to reduce transaction fees and transaction costs. All this seems good, but the current Bitcoin Diamond development members only include two overseas teams, "Evey" and "007", and no specific code has been uploaded to the community.

Since BCC split from Bitcoin, some speculators seem to have felt the temptation of profit and started to take advantage of the popularity. Bitcore, Bitcoin Gold, and Bitcoin Silver appeared. Therefore, the prospects of similar forked coins will have to wait until the relevant technical codes and community construction are completed before we can make a judgment.

Segwit2x defenders

In addition to Bitcoin Diamond, after segwit2x went bankrupt yesterday, a mysterious group called "BitPico" announced that it would carry out the 2X hard fork as originally planned. However, it is understood that this group is not a signatory to the New York Consensus, and they only hold about 5% of the computing power, so even if they can split the S2X blockchain, the probability that they can pose a threat to Bitcoin is very small.

BCH and BTG to be produced

November was not a quiet month even without a hard fork. This morning, Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold successively announced that they have completed the development of the latest version of the software and will implement a hard fork in the near future.

Starting earlier this week, major trading platforms changed the abbreviation of Bitcoin from BCC to BCH, which seems to indicate that they are ready for the hard fork. After the bankruptcy of segwit2x, BCH became the only hope for supporters of large blocks. Therefore, after bitcoin ABC announced that the difficulty adjustment algorithm (DAA) has been updated and the hard fork will be executed on time on November 13, the price of BCH has risen by more than 22%, approaching the historical high.

Coincidentally, BTG, which is committed to solving the problem of mining centralization, also announced that they will officially implement a hard fork at 19:00 on November 12th, UTC time, almost at the same time as BCH. Previously, the BTG team had taken a snapshot backup of the data of the 491407th block. After the hard fork, users who previously held Bitcoin will receive the corresponding BTG. After this news came out, the price of BTG on the bitfinex platform rose by 19.35% and now reached $164.

Therefore, it can be seen that even if the 2X hard fork, which poses the greatest threat to Bitcoin in the short term, has been suspended, the split of Bitcoin will not end. Next, BCH may become the main position of supporters of large blocks and continue to compete with Bitcoin. As for other competing coins, time and the market will choose who can stay. In a period of mixed fish and dragons, investors should still understand the risks and invest cautiously.