The Bitcoin SegWit2x fork was just a week away, but behind the scene things were going very very wrong.
In an e-mail sent today, the SegWit2x developers stated:
"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. Until then, we are suspending our plans for the upcoming 2MB upgrade."
But for those who have been following along, it was a long road leading to this point.
Infact, developers supporting the fork have been dropping off for months. Industry leaders even formed an alliance on twitter adding "NOX2" next to their names to show their disapproval.
With fears of the Bitcoin community being split put to rest, prices shot up today setting a new all time high of $7,888.
But it may not be over with yet, and Segwit2x could still resurface, and still has a chance to succeed.
There are legitimate reasons for a larger blocksize to increase Bitcoin's transaction capacity. But with no replay protection (which would cause people to accidentally send double payments with every transaction, sending both bitcoin and the new Bitcoin SegWit2x at once) now just didn't seem to be the right time.
-------
Author: Oliver Redding
Seattle News Desk
