After the AsicBoost incident, UASF has received 300 nodes signaling support

Some Bitcoin community members are losing patience with the ongoing scaling debate in the community. For months, the Segregated Witness (SegWit) activation process has been very slow. In addition, the BU community is using every opportunity to oppose SegWit. User Activated Soft Fork (UASF) seems to be the right way forward, but it is not easy to achieve. Interestingly, the number of UASF nodes is rising.

It is clear that Bitcoin needs a solution to address the network scaling problem. Although there are no official UASF binaries yet, the number of nodes signaling support for UASF is increasing. Shortly after the AsicBoost incident broke out in the Bitcoin community not long ago, Bitmain, a major supporter of BU, was accused of using ASICBOOST technology for secret mining. Shortly after this incident, the number of nodes signaling support for UASF has reached nearly 300, which is quite impressive. It is important to remember that the vast majority of UASF node owners compile the source code themselves.

The developers are working on official UASF binaries, but it will take a few days before they are available.

UASF node support continues to rise

Many people don't realize that they can help by signaling support for UASF. While compiling the source code can help, modifying the configuration files can also help. However, the latter is only a temporary solution until the official binaries are released. This also shows that many people don't know how they can signal support for UASF.

However, there will always be some individuals who are against the idea of ​​signaling support for UASF. This BIP148 proposal will reject blocks that do not signal support for SegWit after August 1st of this year. It is indeed strange to hear that some people are very opposed to this idea. However, after all, UASF will force the existing activation mechanism to deploy SegWit. In any case, this is not a malicious move because it gives the vast majority of Bitcoin users what they are asking for.

Of course, it's also possible that someone is using cheap VPS (virtual private server) nodes to signal support for UASF. After all, this has happened with Bitcoin Core and BU. However, 300 nodes is still a very small number compared to other solutions. If all the companies supporting this proposal want to add supporting nodes, things will get interesting quickly. So far, the economic majority looks more in favor of SegWit than BU, so signaling support for UASF is worth a try.

For those interested in setting up their own node, make sure to follow the official Bitcoin Core Slack. People active in this channel will be happy to help others set up their nodes. The development of the Bitcoin network over the past few months has indeed been quite remarkable. Whatever the solution, some kind of scaling solution will be activated sooner or later.