Bitcoin Segwit 2X explanation for beginners

What a mammoth week for bitcoin. The latest news is that bitcoin is going to be listed on CME (the worlds largest futures exchange). This is massive news as it recognises bitcoin as an asset like any other commodity.

Segwit 2X is drawing closer and many have been asking me about this issue. I will try my best to explain in simple terms what I understand of this coming hard fork. There is a flow chart at the bottom of this post to explain the history of the forks and Segwit 2X. Check the flowchart in conjunction with this link: https://coin.dance/blocks (the support by miners for 2X). What are forks in simple terms? Check out this post: https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@banglasteve/what-is-a-hardfork-and-why-does-bitcoin-fork-so-much

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WHAT
Bitcoin looks to split into two coins Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin2X (B2X/BTC1) to dictate the future of bitcoin. This is more of a political debate than anything. At this current moment we have several issues with transaction fees and speeds for bitcoin. It is relatively slow to transact and both expensive as to fasten the process we pay miners a higher fee. This is based on the 1MB block size specified by Satoshi.

SegWhat? SegWit - Basically to solve this problem the Core Developers separated the transaction data from the signature data so more transactions could be processed. But that is not enough as the miners want to see SegWit 2X.

New York Agreement? This was essentially an agreement to initially adopt Segwit and then address Segwit 2X in 6 months which is coming up now! (https://medium.com/@DCGco/bitcoin-scaling-agreement-at-consensus-2017-133521fe9a77)
This agreement consists of (at May 22 2017):

• 58 companies located in 22 countries
• 83.28% of hashing power
• How is this decentralised is my thoughts? But anyway I digress as Bitcoin Core did not sign!

Segwit 2X - Is an upgrade of the block sizes.

WHO?
Charlie Lee (Litecoin Founder) and others have branded a movement [NO2X] members include:

• Blockstream
• Bitcoin core (reference client for Bitcoin - which contains the entire ledger or blockchain all nodes must connect to)

[2X]
Essentially those on the NY Agreement:

• Miners
• Digital Currency Group

Almost feels like a power play between the core developers and the miners for who will control the direction of bitcoin.

WHEN?

At approximately 11:53PM PST on November 15, 2017, the Bitcoin network is scheduled to experience a hard fork / network upgrade that may result in a permanent split of the Bitcoin network.

MY THOUGHTS
I personally hate any type of forking. Bitcoin Gold was absolute trash and helped a few developers get rich. Forget ICO's just fork bitcoin with community support you will be an instant millionaire. In my spite, the argument is forking allows bitcoin to be refined and the community will decide the value of the true coin.

The real reason I hate Bitcoin forks are:

• Result in unnecessary Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD)
• Creation of "free money"
• Mislead people into thinking bitcoin can only go up (It is extremely volatile and can tank just as easily)
• Destroy the value of the alternate coin market (any coin other than bitcoin)
• Creates a culture of forking where any disagreements result in a new coin
• Can upset the chain and network

I personally want BTC to succeed but I think B2X will succeed in the end. 2X will make the transactions faster and fees cheaper but it lacks replay protection! This is why I do feel Bitcoin Cash is valuable. Without replay protection one transaction can be replayed on the other chain (you essentially double spend aka pay twice). There is a lot of malicious activity in this space and my advice is DO NOT MOVE BITCOIN a few days before the fork. I think B2X have to incorporate replay attacks as we get closer to the fork date. The team have been unresponsive to date about replay attack concerns.

I would like to see bitcoin continue to be the relic and more a physical gold as I see it as the 'household name'. It is best viewed by me as a storage of wealth and less of a cryptocurrency for daily transactions - Litecoin takes the cake. Instant transactions with low fees. Bitcoin is much better for lambos, houses and expensive assets given its price action and valuations it is receiving.

Take care during this fork guys. It seems like holding bitcoin is the way to go in these uncertain times. There are some great discounts on some quality alt. coins. Good luck to all! Be interesting to see which coin succeeds. I will post about exchanges later in the week as most are on sidelines until the fork approaches closer.

Cryptoshaf

FREE BITCOIN FAUCET : https://freebitco.in/?r=5345367

DISCLAIMER: Please note I am not a financial advisor and none of this should be taken as financial advice as they are my opinions and always do your own research as you should only be investing with money you can afford to lose.