Segwit will be locked in today, what is the significance of this milestone to Bitcoin?

Not surprisingly, Bitcoar expansion proposals - Segwit is expected to be officially locked in the Bitcoin network today.

Segwit is expected to be locked later today (approximately block height 479, 708) if the miners support the BIP 141 in accordance with the current trend to continue the signal. Although miners are still likely to change their minds at the moment, they have no incentive to do so, but the miners have strong economic incentives to implement the change.

At this point, Bitcoin will be closer to changing the storage patterns of some nodes on this $ 50 billion network, potentially paving the way for more exciting and forward-looking technologies such as top-tier lightning networks and other Is developing advanced technology.

But even if Segwit is locked, the Bitcoin network will not be upgraded overnight, for two reasons:

1.Because Segwit has a two-week "grace period", this change will not be "activated" before reaching block 481,824 (expected to be August 21).
2.While locking ensures that Segwit will become part of the Bitcoin network, Bitcoin service providers still need to upgrade their software to support new forms of transactions.

Enter the grace period

Segwit Grace The initial idea was simple - it gave miners time to upgrade the software to achieve the consistency of the upgrade. So, although it sounds like another time on Segwit's delay, but in reality it is an indispensable step.

After two weeks of grace, the upgrade software support Segwit's miners will be able to create blocks that execute the new rules. This means that miners who do not upgrade the software will face the risk of losing the block award (currently a block worth about $ 42,000), because their blocks will be rejected by other miners.

In the case of Segwit activation, it is still unclear how long it takes for the code change to spread to the entire ecosystem and to the real use of the user, the purse provider, the exchange and other basic network infrastructures.

Many services are already ready to support Segwit, including the most used purse provider Blockchain and the large Bit Coin exchanges Kraken and LocalBitcoins.

However, some noteworthy voices that Segwit's larger adoption will take longer, because of the cost issues involved. In general, this is still a controversial issue.

The importance of locking

In addition, although Segwit will experience several important points recently, this does not diminish the special milestones of lock-in - this step actually ensures that Segwit will be added To the Bitcoin network.

So, Segwit gets the support needed to activate it can be said to be a lot of relief. Although there are some lingering criticism, but can be said Segwit received a wide range of support.

At this point, today can be seen as a turning point in the development of Bitcoin networks.

Perhaps the most noteworthy is that Segwit's lockup ensures that at least some of the extensions related technologies will be added to the Bitcoin network without having to create a brand new block chain.

Segwit's implementation can greatly encourage other developments to show the willingness of Bitcoin to change, albeit at a very slow pace.

From the year 2015 was introduced to the end of last year was introduced to the user to run, Segwit spent a year and a half to complete the transition from concept to product.