Bitcoin has seen quite the rally in the past few days. People who haven't paid much attention to the news may be confused by this since we were just talking about the certainty of a hard fork on August 1st. Well since then, things have changed.
Miners Signal For Segwit!
In my last blog post, I mentioned that Bitcoin was decreasing due to the potential hard fork caused by miners not signaling for Segwit (it needed at least 80%, and at that time, it was less than 50%).
Fast forward to today, and over 80% of miners are signaling for Segwit! If you go to www.xbt.eu, you can see the exact percentage of miners signaling 82.8%. You can also see that only 18 blocks are needed for a lock-in for BIP91. These blocks have been decreasing by 1 about every 20 minutes. This means that we could see a lock-in tonight!
What Is BIP91?
The goal of BIP91 is to prevent a chain split from happening by makeing BIP148 and SegWit2x compatible with one another. Considering how both concepts will activate on the network within 36 hours of one another, compatibility is of the utmost importance. Once BIP91 activates on the Bitcoin network, all of the network nodes signaling this solution will reject blocks which are not SegWit compatible. This is exactly what BIP148 aims to achieve as well, as its top priority is to ensure that Segregated Witness activates on the Bitcoin network once and for all. Choosing this golden path between BIP148 and SegWit2x would allow both parties to get what they want: we would see the activation of SegWit2x with its 80% mining support threshold, while still also honoring the original SegWit proposal. This would prevent a chain split and fix any uncertainty that was previously caused.
What Does This Mean For The Future Of Bitcoin And Cryptocurrencies?
Well this means a few things. First of all, most of the uncertainty is gone. If over 80% of miners signal for Bitcoin and all the blocks are locked-in, then there won't be a hard fork on August 1st and Bitcoin will no longer split. This plays a HUGE role in investor confidence. That's why we've seen the prices rally for the past couple of days.
As to why the miners suddenly decided to change their mind? That's anyone's guess. My prediction is that they saw Bitcoin plummeting to $1800 and were losing money. In order to stop this, they decided to start signaling for Segwit and come to an agreement, in order to regain investor's confidence and shift the market momentum.
With all of this taking place, I see us rallying for the next couple of days, especially since the lock-in is so close! I believe we'll see a lock-in by tonight and once that gets out, we'll see Bitcoin rally over $3000. Now for whatever reason, if the miners stop signaling for Segwit, and we see that 82.8% number start going down, then we may see a market downturn, especially if it gets below 80% before a lock-in. So pay attention to that over the next few hours, and set your stops in case it happens. This is an exciting time for everyone, and it always pays to be one step ahead!
Sources: Bitcoin Isle
Good news. Finally we have some consensus and things can calm down a bit. Until November when we start all the talk of a hard fork all over again. Still it gives us a little breathing space to try and get our s**t all in one sock (as we used to say). Onwards and upwards!!
You got it! It's such a relief to be rid of all the uncertainty. We had a good week of down days and it's nice to see things changing for the better. I'll admit, I did not see this coming. I was almost certain we would see a chain split, but I won't argue if we don't! More green days to come :)
I wasn't convinced we would see a split but I didn't think it would be so smooth. I was expecting lower lows than we had before any recovery. Fingers crossed for sensible discussions before November.
Wish I could have gotten more before the jump, Meh what are you going to do.
Don't we all! Hopefully you were able to get something. I bought more today since I believe we'll continue to see the rise, especially as everyone realizes that there won't be a chain split :)
LOL I love it!
Lol nice
Interesting article. Do you think that there's a probability that the price of Bitcoin will go down (one more time) before August 1st?
That's a good question. I personally don't think it'll go down like we saw last time. Mainly because all of the uncertainty is gone. Over 80% of the miners have signaled for segwit and everything is locked in. I think there will be a standard market correction, but will continue to rise afterwards
Good contents bro!
Thanks! I thought everyone should know why we've been having a rally for the past couple of days. It looks like we may be seeing more green from here!
Great content @cryptodata. upvoted and resteemed. Everybody should be aware of this in order to take the best informed decisions!
Thanks @dssb! I really appreciate it! I believe in keeping everyone informed so they can make unbiased decisions and carefully invest their money. Especially with all of this volatility!
Finally i'm at break even !!! Hoping it will continue the growth
Awesome! I know a lot of people that held through the fall and are definitely glad to see this rally. I'm looking forward to more green to come :)
Question is how high will we see before the next dip ??
If the lock-in happens tonight, I believe we could see above $3000. I'm sure there will be market fluctuations as always, but as far as the next big dip, I don't think until we get above $3000.
Fully Agree. I think we may hit a new high and then another Dip.
I 100% agree! Over 80% of miners have signaled for Segwit and BP191 is finally locked in. Investor's confidence is at an all time high so I see some sideways action for a day or two then more price rise :)
Thanks for the valuable information on Bitcoin. I was surprised to see the spike and your post helped me understand why its happening.
You're very welcome! Thanks for the great comment! I'm glad anytime I can help someone out or help them understand the craziness in this market. With everything going on, it always pays to have extra information :)
Thanks a lot blogger. I have followed you and hope to see more from you. Linking this post in the latest post of mine.
Anytime! I just followed you as well. I really appreciate you linking my post. I hope it helps a lot of people and look forward to helping many more.
I saw the Cheetah comment so didn't link it. Why the cheetah comment?
It was for the "What is BP191" portion. I used some of the definitions and it flagged it for that. I sourced the website though
Cheetah is fast. Steemcleaners won't disturb you probably.
Interesting, you have given me more details in this short article than most others in twice as much today. Thanks!
Thanks for reading @flauwy! I try to summarize all of my articles so they don't take up too much time and are easy to understand.
Very nice analysis
Thanks for reading! I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Thank you for this I freakin learned a lot. Appreciate you :)
No problem! I'm glad I could help out and make things clearer :)
Absolutely buddy keep doing great things
great post..
Thanks for reading!
This post received a 3.7% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @cryptodata! For more information, click here!
Hi! I am a robot. I just upvoted you! I found similar content that readers might be interested in:
http://www.bitcoinisle.com/2017/07/19/what-is-bip91-and-why-does-it-matter/
It's referenced and probably his own blog. Don't be so fast ;)
Thank you! I hate when it does that lol
Your own blog this one?
I don't own that blog, but I made sure to source it and referenced the link at the bottom of the article for the BP191 information
Ohhh. I get it. Cheetah had to do what it is designed to do. I'd say don't use exact words. Read and then write it in your own words. This will make it unique. You can always mention sources of your information.
Yea exactly. This is the first time it's been on one of my articles. I'll use that next time for sure