A new signaling period for SegWit just started...
Could this one be the last?
As we speak a new signaling period for SegWit has just started. So far 100% of the blocks have indicated that miners are in support of SegWit.
If at least 95% of blocks during this 2,016 block period signal that they are in support for the change, it will lock in on the Bitcoin network.
A lock-in would mean that the new code would be activated.
What is SegWit?
I am sure you have heard the term SegWit thrown around quite a bit recently, but what exactly is SegWit?
Broken down, SegWit literally means segregate and witnesses. Segregate means to separate and Witnesses are the signatures to transactions, so basically SegWit means to separate transaction signatures.
It was originally formulated by Dr. Pieter Wuille in 2015.
According to Investopedia, SegWit can be defined as follows:
"The process by which the block size limit on a blockchain is increased by removing signature data from Bitcoin transactions. When certain parts of a transaction are removed, this frees up space or capacity to add more transactions to the chain."
I am sure you can already guess why that might be important to Bitcoin, as the block size limit has been at the heart of the scaling debate ever since it first came up in 2014.
How much will it help?
In a given transaction the digital signature accounts for 65% of the space. SegWit will ignore the data attached to a signature by stripping off the signature from within the input and move it to a structure towards the end of a transaction.
In doing so, the block size limit would get increased from 1 MB to just under 4 MB, although this number is subject to debate as others claim that it wouldn't increase the block size limit to more than 2 MB.
Another benefit?
Not only would this increase the block size limit (the actual amount is up for debate) but it would also remove the ability of a receiver to intercept and modify a sender's transaction ID in order to get more coins from the sender than was originally intended.
The reason for this is because the digital signature would no longer be attached to the input.
More about this can be read here:
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/segwit-segregated-witness.asp
So, in effect, it would clean up the network and make things harder to game for unscrupulous individuals.
How long will it take to implement?
As long as the miners continue to signal above that 95% threshold, SegWit would lock-in about 2 weeks from now.
Specifically, SegWit would lock-in at block 479,808, which would be around August 8th.
You can check this link out for a more in depth look at the scaling issues and possible solutions:
https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-scaling-watch-news-guides-navigate-coming-clash-code/
Stay informed my friends!
Sources:
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/segwit-segregated-witness.asp
https://www.coindesk.com/new-segwit-signaling-period-started-mining-pools-signaling/
Image Sources:
https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/guides/what-is-segwit/
https://decentralize.today/litecoiners-expect-segwit-for-january-2017-8b5300636a56
https://www.coindesk.com/new-segwit-signaling-period-started-mining-pools-signaling/
Follow me: @jrcornel
Thank you for thorough explanation!
Yeah but do we really want SegWit?
In short, SegWit can flip the incentives for some (bandwidth restricted) miners such that they benefit from not downloading or verifying the transaction signatures. For a user, this causes a SegWit transaction to be less secure than a non-segwit one. A non-SegWit transaction is secure with the assumption that no attack is able to obtain more than 51% of the network hashrate. With SegWit, this becomes 51% - (percent of miners with flipped incentives).
If 20% of miners end up in a situation where they are not downloading signatures because it is more profitable for them not to, a 31% miner can attack the network effectively. Security becomes 51% - X.
The bigger problem is that it is very hard to estimate the proportion of miners with this flip in incentives before their portion grows too large and an attack occurs. This basically means that SegWit transactions will always be less secure than normal Bitcoin P2PKH transactions. Even if just by the smallest bit, this is what fundamentally breaks the fungibility of Bitcoin.
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@kyle.anderson/fork-christ-s-sake-bitcoin-is-going-to-fork-is-segwit-bitcoin-whose-side-should-i-be-on
if I get it right, segwit will lead the way for other alt coins to take over bitcoins. Let's say that altcoin is more secure than bitcoin, it opens for any other coins as asset to jump start its revival.
Let's wait and see.
Hope it never happens.
A fast and simple way to explain SegWit is by comparing it to a zipped computer file. It frees up space to add more transactions to the chain. Wow, that Segwit logo looks an awful lot like the TenX logo.
It would be good spectator sport to see segwit happen only to be tested by a 51% attacked.
Read this before you support @craig-grant or @yuliana with your attention and time https://steemit.com/scam/@ashketchum/craig-grant-is-the-worst-kind-of-person
You wrote an interesting story, super!
Two thumbs up for you.
Too bad this Bitcoin Cash is happening, ruining the party for the time beeing ....
Interesting days ahead. segwit plus the hardfork on 1 Aug should keep us all 'entertained'!! Hopefully things can calm down after that although I doubt it will. Looks like an eventful
Segwit will lock in this signaling period and bitcoin cash will fall hard by AUG 2.
Come on August 8th! It will be nice to have a small win for bitcoin on the technical side. Something tells me some sideline money is waiting for that date too.
Im looking forward to faster transactions! Can't wait til they include the lightning network
all the best to BITCOIN holder
Thanks jrcornel, I'm in education and we say "repetition, repetition, repetition" I've seen this info but for all us "newbies" to Blockchain it is good to see things over and over from a different angle and a different poster.