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Bitcoin is undergoing some big changes as we speak. In the latest client update, SegWit becomes enabled by default. It is a big step forward to improving the scalability of this cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Boosting SegWit Adoption
Quite some time ago, the Bitcoin network was slated to receive a scaling update. Known as Segregated Witness, the solution was not to everyone’s liking. It ended up splitting the Bitcoin community into two separate camps altogether. As such, the “use” of SegWit has always remained abysmal. The people who did not agree with SegWit eventually hard forked Bitcoin to create Bitcoin Cash. That altcoin uses a direct block size increase to improve overall transaction throughput.
Increasing SegWit adoption has not been easy since that “split”, though. Roughly 12% of all network transactions make use of this scaling solution. A lot of service providers have struggled to integrate Segregated Witness into their existing code. It now seems that struggle will finally come to an end.
With the latest 0.16 Bitcoin Core client, SegWit support is enabled by default. The user wallet interface allows anyone to use this scaling solution without tinkering or advanced knowledge. Making this scaling solution more approachable has been a battle of its own kind over the past few months. If enough users upgrade to the new client, we may finally see things improve for the Bitcoin network as a whole.
The Rising Bitcoin Price
For service providers, this upgrade will be considered to be a welcome change. Although this is a user-oriented SegWit solution first and foremost, exchanges and wallet providers will benefit from it as well. More specifically, the integration of this scaling solution may go a lot smoother. It will take some time until SegWit becomes the default solution on the Bitcoin network.
This news comes at an interesting time for Bitcoin. After a slump during the first six weeks of 2018, the Bitcoin price is rebounding strongly. It seems money is flowing into all cryptocurrencies once again. If Bitcoin can become a peer-to-peer currency again, this value will only continue to skyrocket. At the same time, the market price is mainly based on speculation first and foremost.
A switch to SegWit-by-default may also improve merchant support again. Several companies dropped Bitcoin support over the high fees and transaction delays. If those are non-issues in the future, spending the world’s leading cryptocurrency will become easier again. Additionally, the Bitcoin Dominance Index has been on the rise as well. Right now, Bitcoin is one of the strongest climbers in all of cryptocurrency. Even so, we will have to wait and see how things evolve as far as this new update is concerned.
