It appears as if the race between SegWit and Bitcoin Unlimited has taken another drastic turn. Although SegWit seemed to have a clear advantage until a few days ago, Bitcoin Unlimited support has virtually caught up. This is all thanks to Antpool signaling Bitcoin Unlimited. The bigger question is whether or not this is yet another temporary trend.
BU and SegWit Are Neck-in-Neck
It is evident the scaling debate is heating up as of late. Although there is some cause for optimism given the way things stand right now, neither BU nor SegWit will reach its activation threshold anytime soon. One big difference is how BU is halfway there, whereas SegWit still has to convince nearly 70% of the miners to support this solution. Right now, it seems highly unlike that will ever happen, especially when considering BU has 25% network support.
Looking at the statistics on Coin Dance, it is evident the lead SegWit had until a few days ago has all but vaporizes. With 25.6% of blocks signaling SegWit and 25% signaling BU, there is virtually no more “lead” to speak of. In fact, this only goes to show SegWit support is once again stagnating, whereas BU support is [temporarily] increasing. It is not the first time the numbers for BU go up, although they never seem to be maintained for long periods.
One thing that has changed over the past few days is how Antpool officially started signaling BU activation. This is a significant vote of confidence for Bitcoin unlimited, although this news does not come as a surprise by any means. Everyone was well aware of how Unlimited has the support of one of China’s largest bitcoin mining pools. Then again, it remains to be seen if this support will mean BU gets closer to activating or not.
It is evident scaling bitcoin remains well out of reach for the time being, though. As companies slowly move away from bitcoin due to these mind games taking place over who’s ego is bigger and better, things are not looking favorable for the bitcoin world. Higher transaction fees are making it virtually unfeasible for any company to accept bitcoin payments right now. After all, if users have to pay higher fees, there is no reason for them to actively use bitcoin in the first place.
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