The new bitcoin code will receive full SegWit support[↻60%]

Segregated Witness (SegWit) technology is special. And it's not just that changing the bitcoin code is focused on scaling the network, or that SegWit opens the way for a new level for the technology, making #bitcoin faster and cheaper.

Finally, activated in August last year after months of dispute, SegWit now encourages developers to create more structured "themed" version of the software, which is an unusual development for the team behind the oldest and most valuable cryptocurrency network in the world.

In most cases, when Bitcoin Core introduces new changes to the cryptocurrency code, a free volunteer development team simply combines disparate optimizations. But this upcoming code release, 0.16.0, the sixteenth "major release" since the beginning of bitcoin, is a bit different.

The launch will begin in the coming days, all updates will revolve around SegWit - with more emphasis on simplifying the sending of SegWit-style transactions from the software wallet.

So, while the first release of SegWit software was to make sure that the network accepts the new rules, 0.16.0 is dedicated to enabling users to take advantage in practice.

Team member to improve Bitcoin Core Andrew Chow briefly said:
The main change is the addition of SegWit to the wallet, which allows users to easily create SegWit addresses.

Chow also explained that SegWit features have been added to both the command line set and the wallet user interface, so both programmers and regular users will be able to use it.

The engineer from Chaincode Lab and Bitcoin Core developer Marco Falke noted that while it was possible to create SegWit addresses in previous versions of wallets, the process was "quite complicated" and "mostly hidden."

Now, with the launch of the new software, the SegWit addresses will be set by default, which means that the new addresses are automatically compatible with the scaling feature.

Version 0.16.0 is also the first version to support "native address SegWit", also called bech32 addresses that belong to the new format of addresses, created by the pioneers of Bitcoin Core While Peter and Greg Maxwell, are more user-friendly than the old address types, and automatically support SegWit.

According to Falke:"This is the most exciting part of the release." Together with the automatic creation of SegWit addresses, wallet users need to get lower commissions and progress can have broader perspectives.

The developers of Bitcoin Core was first introduced SegWit in November 2016, and the debates have led some users of the software to support a competing cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Cash. Supporters of Bitcoin Cash hold the position that larger blocks, in which more space is allocated for transactions, are the key to reducing commissions.

According to Chow, one of the advantages of the SegWit address format is that commissions will be reduced, although the developer acknowledges that due to the novelty of the format, most wallets do not currently support it.

Chow also said that other parts of the update give users more flexibility when working with their wallets. For example, users can store their wallets or private keys in a third-party data directory if they want to.