Bitcoin Avoids a Split While the Price Goes Up. The plans for the SegWit2x split for the bitcoin on November 16 have been called off. This led to the cryptocurrency reaching yet another high in its value.
The SegWit2x was expected to help with improving upon the speed and cost of bitcoin transactions. However, there were concerns over how the split would create two different versions of the currency with different block sizes. This led to the developers working on the change to hold off on the plan.
The move comes as people are worried about how the value of the currency might change. This comes as the split might give investors a sizeable payout but could also cause instability that would keep them from actually benefiting off of the payout caused by the split.
Still, this does not mean that split will never happen as there is always a potential for it to take place.
Specifics on the Change
The SegWit2x split was designed to help with producing a better blocksize update. This would entail a 2 MB block size that is twice the size of what is currently being used. The move was designed to keep the cost of using the bitcoin from going up any higher than what it is already like.
The change was promoted by groups like BitGo, Xapo, Blockchain and ShapeShift.
Dissent Over the Change
The split was considered by many to be worrisome. Investors and other groups had been pulling out of the SegWit2x split plan due to concerns over how it might make the bitcoin unstable.
As the bitcoin has been going up in value, there were considerations that a split might be appealing to investors. This would come as investors would receive a payout in the value of what they are investing in as the bitcoin splits off with a new offshoot currency being produced at the same time. But there were beliefs that the split would create a sense of instability where the currency might drop in value, thus making any gains in the currency irrelevant and unlike to be worthwhile.
Value Changes
This development has helped get the bitcoin to continue to reach record highs. The bitcoin reached a high of around $7,800 according to Coindesk not long after the split was called off. It went down by a bit though and is at $7,200, a total consistent with what it had been before the announcement was made.
Will It Still Happen?
Although the SegWit2x developers have announced that the split will not go as planned, they are still considering the potential for the split to occur. They are waiting to see if a better consensus can be reached in terms of actually getting the split to go off in the future. Until then, they will not go forward with this move.
The move to stop the split for now is expected to play a major role in how the bitcoin will develop in the future. This especially comes as the bitcoin continues to be a popular investment for many people around the world.
