Bitcoin looks to be saved from a blockchain split.
BIP 91 to the rescue, at 81.2%.
That should regain some trust in Bitcoin and that is good for all cryptos.
A smart soft fork that saves the day.
There is a reason the cryptocurrency market recovered so quickly, as it seems now. And the reason might just be for the most the release of a smart solution for the SegWit challenge in the Bitcoin realm. It has a name that for many sounds like a code in itself: BIP91. All about miners signalling with a bit that is set, but that is a quite a technical, that I will not even go into. For one as it is way to warm and it also could use several post that add nothing in value for most readers. Therefore I will just keep it as simple as possible. With the good news that it looks like in the Bitcoin realm all noses are pointing into the same direction again. And all that seems to have been made possible due to some very clever programming. That now makes SegWit activation become a reality.
One main reason this softfork known as BIP 91 will make sure the Bitcoin will stay on one and the same blockchain is by refusing clients that could cause a split. Being active in the Slothcoin community I did experience a few blockchain split attacks. This was tried a few times by older Slothcoin versions with big mining power backing it. Luckily the latest version of Slothcoin got full 100% network support. So the changes could safely kick in from block 300K onwards. And the longest and toughest chain (with the most added difficulty) was created by the newest software version. Yet, somehow I did overlook the chance of an older version trying to split attack the current blockchain. Still with the community support the attacks were countered. That also showed it is difficult for an older version to succeed in creating enough blocks to even create a split.
One thing that helped was blocking the IP addresses that were initiating the blockchain split attacks. This was done without creating an adjusted Slothcoin version. A thing called a firewall came in very handy, so the attacker had a hard time connecting to the network, no matter how much mining power it had. Then the Slothcoin community threw in all their combined mining power and made sure the right blockchain was regaining strength. Over time becoming even stronger by the added difficulty of mining a block. Now the Bitcoin blockchain will not have to go through all that trouble, thanks to the BIP 91 softfork. All the mining supporters of the upcoming SegWitX2 changes have to do is to send a signal, a Beep as you want, that they support it. And as long as over 80% of the miners agree for a period of 336 blocks in a row, the Bitcoin blockchain is as good as safe.
Lock and load for SegWitX2.
Two days and 8 hours it will take after the first 80% plus approval by the Bitcoin miners to lock the softfork in. After this miners that do not signal to support BIP 91, the path to SegWit, will be rejected from the network. In effect this means that rogue miners will be kept out of the longest {most chained blocks in a row} and strongest {accumulated difficulty} blockchain. As long as at least 51% of the mining power keeps supporting the main Bitcoin blockchain. To keep it simple again: it cannot be split, there will be only one real Bitcoin blockchain. And miners that refuse to signal for SegWit support simply will lose their chance of getting 12.5 BTC per found block. Of course the transaction payments that come with every block are also lost for them. It will be for them like cutting into their own flesh, but maybe they have plans to move on to other things. Because BTC will become way to expensive after this is all history and the cryptocurrency market will reward in growth for the relief...?
And I have to state here, I will not offer to eat my own slong dong live on social media, as some seem to have done, but I still believe BTC will rise in value again soon. It was constructed to hold large capital value per Bitcoin, to hold mortgages of hundreds of thousand, to millions in a few BTC. That is beyond being the digital equivalence of gold. And I am perfectly okay with paying thousand in transaction costs to a miner that will secure my house being sold. But even for small payments there might be coming a solution thanks to SegWit. Though that is still future music, because Bitcoin first needs to get passed this bump in the road. And with BIP 91 about to be locked in, that is getting very realistic. Even though all of a sudden it seems Segwit gets more signalling. But either way, within a few days all those who are cryptos minded will know that is will be alright.
But what about BU and how does Steem fit in?
Bitcoin Unlimited {BU} and the other parties came to a consensus recently that also the blocksize of Bitcoin would double. Therefore a real solution came into sight. And it must have been quite a burdon to get all noses pointing into the same direction: the cryptos future. Even though there are still those miners who support Bitcoin Unlimited, they are in a minority of 2.1%. Maybe they do not know the SegWit war is over yet, because the SegWitX2 treaty was signed, sealed and delivered? But if the want to have a chance to earn BTC, they better move over fast. And it really looks like the vast majority of miners and users agree this is, for now the best path to take. Double blocksize, becoming quadrupled in effect thanks to more efficient block management, will have the congestion solved in a jiffy. And if one wants to have a transaction get in a block fast? Well, just offer a good price that the miner market likes.
Why should the cryptos realm cheer for things like BIP 91 securing the future of Bitcoin at all? Well, most trading is done against BTC in the cryptocurrency markets. That is the standard and the recent dip that dropped the whole cryptocurrency market by almost 48% is also correlated to the trust in Bitcoin as a standard for holding high capital value. Steem is dependend on the value of BTC and the trust of investors in the whole of the cryptos realm. Now, in the worst case scenario Litecoin could maybe take over the lead from Bitcoin, but that would do severe damage to the whole of the cryptos market. Just look at the recent dip, and that one was for a part triggered by the fear of BTC splitting. And also caused by the flood of golddigging fake ICO/ ITO releases. But they will get flushed away over time. But a possible Bitcoin blockchain split? That was experienced as a doom scenario. Very bad for cryptos (like Steem), a lot of businesses and those who have BTC in their porfolio.
There is real hope.
If Bitcoin picks up again, proves to be worthy the trust of the cryptocurrency market, then things will take off big time again. And that will be good for Steem too. More capital value flowing into the cryptos market will mean a higher value for Steem too. The market price for Steem already is back at 1.26 US$ and the next ceiling for the total cryptos market cap has passed the 85 billion ceiling (a point that often gets followed by a short dip). So next ceiling is 97 billion as I expect it to go and if BIP 91 gets full support soon then things will start to take off. Do not know for the 500K US$ per BTC, or the 12 US$ per Steem, but it sure will be all about green. That for the top 25 of the cryptocurrecy market. So, if the Steem developement Dream Team could fix the registration challenge with hardfork 20 and announce the Community Tokens as coming up soon, well then we are in for fun rollarcoaster ride!
But, remember, only invest in cryptos what you are willing and able to lose. Also, your speculation might be as bad or as good as mine...
Have a great one!
BIP 91 and SegWitX2 when will it get locked in?
screenshot by @oaldamster of XBT dot EU
thanks for interesting post!
Thank you, you are very welcome.
This comment has received a 1.59 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @valerious.
finally a well explained post about the bitcoin-bip-thing :) . Where can i find more info on the community tokens?
Glad to know I was able to break it down a bit in understandable chuncks!
Steem Community Tokens.
In a post by Fyrstikken, Ned is a guest at Steemspeak. Exciting subject: Community Tokens: https://steemit.com/community-tokens/@fyrstikken/ned-scott-ceo-of-steemit-inc-have-a-40-minute-conversation-with-the-steemspeak-com-community
You can find more posts about Steem Community #Tokens {#SCT} using search.
My take on SCTs are very positive. As the Steem #community becomes bigger fast communities will form. And those will have sub-communities.
At some point Steem will become very scarse. Because the creation of new Steem is capped. While the amount of active members will expand. More high demand on the Steem being created. How to keep it going and make it even more fun?
Community Tokens to the resque!
They will be issued by demand. Having the same properties as Steem. Reward pool of its own. Upvotes in coffeebeans. Trade it on the decentralized internal market for Steem Backed Dollar or Florijn.
It will keep Steem scarse, inflation will still drop by half a percent per year. While the high demand, caused by more members coming in, for liquids for upvoting and so on will be solved by Steem Community Tokens.
For me there is even no other way, that I can think of, to scale the user base.
Hope I was able to clearify it some for you.
Great article on bitcoin @oaldamster! where is the source for that?
Which scenario could happen for eth after segwit2X is implemented for bitcoin? thanks for the answer and i am following you now and uprooting you!
Hi @andreolf,
Thank you for you support.
What will happen with Ethereum? It looks like it has a part of its own in the cryptos realm. Still I believe BTC is the number 1 to stay and pull more capital in. That can be good news for Ether, just like for Steem and the rest of the cryptos market. Personally I think #EOS is more of a future competitor for Ethereum.
More about BIP 91:
Watching the lockin' happen as it goes:
https://www.xbt.eu/
There lots to find about BIP 91: https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0091.mediawiki
And using Duck Duck search if you want to know more:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=bip+91&ia=web
WE AINT SEEN NOTHIN YET! BTC will hit 3K again in no time :P
Check out my BTC forecast for the day:
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@hotsauceislethal/bitcoin-price-forecast-7-19-2017
Whooohoooo!
My predicition: 5K before end off september 2017!
Clear an good information. Still fingers crossed.... BTC will Always be with us :-)
Thank you very much!
Yes, it aint over and done with yet...
It is going fast though, only 205 blocks to go.
BTC is here to stay. :-)
Great work @oaldamster thanks for nice sharing,bitcoin is real king don't affraid from false rumors.
Thank you @irfansardar,
Glad you appreciate it!
Indeed, enough FUD has been spread, this is the real ongoing Bitcoin deal here:
https://www.xbt.eu/
Thanks for sharing. This gives some reassurance to pessimists like myself about the fork.
You are welcome. Until BIP 91 I did have my doubts too, but is seems most in the Bitcoin realm realky want to keep one blockchain going.
Can not state things in the cryptos realm are ever getting boring. Even too much of excitement sometimes. But then in came BIP 91.
Yep. Now just feel sorry about not buying when it went below 2000 USD.
Can imagine that, hard to believe it will go sub 2K again...
very informative. Cheers
Thanks, it is my pleasure.
This is very good news indeed. I just hope new investors will realize what actually happened here and how it's a good thing this has been passed now. Trust is a big thing when we're talking about millions of dollars.
It is absolutely good news!
As far as the cryptos market is a good example, than it looks like trust is gaining, raising value for most cryptos. And that will attract more capital.
At least that is what I think.
Yeah I think so too. What will be most interesting is how that capital will be divided amongst the different coins/tokens. Will it be the same as a few weeks ago or will we see massive shifts?
My speculation is that the most well know, proven worthy, blockchains will get most. It will be exciting to see how this developes itself further.
Very exciting! Only time will tell...
Great inside in the world of BTC and what is going on right now. I just look from the outside, and see many of the Alt (maybe all) as well as BTC behaving very nervous at the exchanges the last weeks, maybe even months. Such nervous reactions generally indicates the investors and traders expect negative things to happen. The behaviour on Alt is so nervous that what I noticed is that the values come down quicker then they go up, also the value it loses when BTC comes down, is more than the value increase when BTC goes up again, meaning: the Alts are bleeding. Regardless of what will happen with BTC coming weeks/months, I do expect the Alts to suffer further. But then again, this i my own personal opinion, being a newbie trader without a lot of indepth knowledge of the crypto market.
Also, it may not be that bad when the Alts go down further, since it'll be less risky to pick some good ones up from the exchanges to invest in :)
What do you expect for the Alts coming weeks and months?
Alts did take quite a beating already.
Since beginning of 2017 cryptos have gone up in value real fast, despite the inner battle in the Bitcoin realm about SegWit. Luckily for all cryptos first Core and Unlimited settled for a solution, SegWitX2, and now with BIP 91 the Bitcoin blockchain will be secured
This will give more peace in the whole of the cryptos realm, as most are intertwined with Bitcoin and its value. Therefore Alts will go with the stronger upwards trend that I expect to happen when BIP 91 gets locked in. That would mean only one long and strong Bitcoin blockchain.
To have some calmness in the cryptos realm again is a good thing. But I expect there will also be another Fear Of Missing Out run I think. Especially at the Alt side of the cryptos realm, as those will be relatively cheap for many to buy. (And I hope this will also lower the interest for all those golddigging void ICO/ITO releases a lot.)
So, as far as I can see, Alts will rock too, just look at the graphs how they correlate with each other at: http://coinmarketcap.com/
When I look at Digibyte for instance I think that one really is not doing well. That is bad, for my portfolio, because I bought that at a upwards trend, almost at the highest point. Still, that one could gain a lot. Just like DOGE and Verge, to name a few.
Right now it is about the 85 billion ceiling, ups-downs, next one to be reached is somewhere about 97. And when the signal is out: Bitcoin is safe! Then things will go towards a new all time high total market cap 120 ceiling.
And then the well known Alts will also gain big time again. Therefore I think Alts will rise together with BTC.
But, that is my speculation. If I was able to forsee the exact market movement, I would be a multi-billionair soon. Hahaha.
Super you wrote such an extensive response! I suppose FOMO was and will be one of the key drivers for the Alts to go up at some point in time. Although ups/downs are correlated between Alts and BTC, my Alt trading portfolio that I didn't really touch the last weeks, has about 20% loss against BTC, more against USD. That is why I was stating Alts getting a bigger beating then BTC, and is more nervous. Anyway, looking at some market caps, I find them quite high for some of the Alt since with most of them nothing else can be done then trading on the exchanges. But time will tell how the services around the various coins will be created and evolve. In the end, a coin can only have real value when it can be used to earn and buy stuff with, and the more you can do with it, the more the coin can be a standard coin to pay for vacation, life at home, the more value it'll have. Looking fwd to the next couple of weeks, and a positive outcome for BTC, since that is absolutely required to keep the crypto coin market somewhat stable. I also hope more Alts will come up with mass market services, since this may reduce the number of 'scam' coins and propositions. Lets see what the (near) future will bring :)
For me it is a pleasure to write/ talk about cryptos. :-)
It is true that Alt got hit relativily harder than BTC and also LTC. For me DGB was the biggest downer, lost about 80% overal on that one. But also NLG, VERGE, VRT and DOGE, all got hit bad.
Did move some of my Alts to Doge at last last big dip. But I'm already sorry I ditched VRT. Extended my LTC range some more, but still a bit too early before the deepest dip. Ah well, overall I am still very content with my current portfolio.
For me some of the Alts have a function in that they are cheaper and faster than BTC. So they are more fit for small value transactions. Do not know if you are familiair with CoinPayments but they show how it Alts can be used in a Point Of Sales system {POS}.
They also have an App, both with wallet and POS build in. And you can connect your account to a fiat conversion service. So, you get a payment, or donation and so on, in a crypto that the client chooses and you get Euro on your bankaccount. Their service supports Steem and SBD too: https://www.coinpayments.net/merchant-tools
Audiocoin can be used for example, ideal for small payments.
This gives use to some Alts, for every day use. The Merchant sets the price in Euro and the client uses their crypto of choice to pay the right amount. (Bitshares has something equal in developement.)
If it can be used in day to day life, it will have value. Client and merchant happy. (I use the CoinBase service on a website to collect donations, as a trial.)
And I agree the swindler coins/icos/itos need to be flushed out. That is best for all real valued cryptos.
It will be an exciting future! :-)
I came across coinpayments in the recent past. Also more and more debit cards are made available that can be loaded with BTC and Alt coins. Even some debit cards are connected with PayPal. The volatility of the crypto coins will keep these quite small for the foreseeable future, only those who want to be under the radar and those early adopters will be in crypto. For most of my friends, cryptos are to unpredictable though. I see for sure a future for cryptos and it is a great mechanism, whether it is for money or other assets. But it need time for mass adoption. It needs simplification. It needs less volatility (large market caps essentially), and that will not be there overnight since most of the companies and people working in crypto think technical only, they are not marketeers.
Those in cryptos now are still early adaptors. There is still a whole open field to explore for many years to come. Already I find it great if people understand that something like Bitcoin does excist. While blockchain blogging is still a bit tough to grasp.
So much opportunities to get it to the mainstream.
Absolutely agree with you! Blockchain blogging requires still a couple of steps and a better distribution of power. But yeh, the first implementation we are using right now. And nothing is done first time right! :)
And I am having a great time being where it is happening!