Bitcoin Independence Day
On 1 August 2017 Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 148 will activate and hopefully bring an end to the Bitcoin scaling dispute through a User-Activated Soft Fork (UASF).
BIP 148 is a UASF which tries to encourage users to push miners to upgrade to their version of SegWit.
These users are the economical nodes (e.g. wallets, exchanges, etc) of which an estimate of 80% are already been running SegWit as part of their bitcoin software since last November.
BIP 148's rules will go into effect on 1 August.
On the due date, the BIP upgraded nodes will only accept bitcoin coins from miners which have installed SegWit. BIP 148 will reject any block created without the “bit 1” indicator which miners have to show the network that they're ready for SegWit.
The idea of BIP 148 is an effort to get the community behind a UASF process.
The proposal is distinguished by not being so dependent on the support of miners.
Because BIP 148 is a “forced” way to get the bitcoin blockchain on SegWit, it is not sure what is going to happen on and after 1 August.
A lot of persons are calling 1 August “Bitcoin Independence Day”.
Sources:
http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoins-independence-day-could-users-tip-the-scales-in-the-scaling-debate/
Is this a good or bad thing? I don't fully understand it.
You should probably start here.
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@kyle.anderson/uasf-the-bitcoin-takeover-event-is-the-bip148-user-activated-soft-fork-a-contentious-sybil-takeover-of-bitcoin-to-force-segwit
I hope it will be a good thing. Currently, the dispute is with the miners who actually wants to go Unlimited. This attempt is coming from the users. Litecoin had a successful SegWit installation and it was driven a lot from the user side. We need to reach the point where a decision is taken and Bitcoin is heading off in a direction.
I agree, but there are a few things in the bitcoin network that need working on. How do we fix those?
There are plenty of users who disagree with Segwit for many valid reasons.
UASF is not only rosemary and flowers.
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@kyle.anderson/uasf-the-bitcoin-takeover-event-is-the-bip148-user-activated-soft-fork-a-contentious-sybil-takeover-of-bitcoin-to-force-segwit
Thanks for the reference. Interesting article.