Bitfury Signaling SegWit Activation Brings Network Hashrate Support To 28%

With Segregated Witness signaling underway on the Bitcoin network, it appears that support for this solution is growing. Bitfury is the latest mining pool to support signaling, adding another 8% of the total network hashrate for Bitcoin Core. With 28% of the network hashrate for SegWit right now, things are looking positive. But there is still a long way to go before SegWit activates.

Bitfury Shows Support For Segregated Witness

Looking over the list of Bitcoin mining pools, it is not difficult to see which operators will support SegWit moving forward. Various pools are integrating this new solution and will start signaling soon. Bitfury had previously indicated that they were working on SegWit integration, and have now made the signaling support official.

In doing so, another 8% of the total Bitcoin network hashrate shows support for Segregated Witness. As support continues to grow, it only seems to be a matter of time until block size issues are finally a thing of the past. But the road ahead is still very long, as a majority consensus needs to be reached before the implementation is activated.

As was to be expected, the more prominent mining pools were quick to jump on the SegWit bandwagon–not that there’s anything wrong with this implementation of bigger block sizes, though, as it is good to finally have a working solution to this problem. BTCC, Slush (partially), BitClub, and an unknown pool were among the first to show their support.  With the addition of BitFury, over a quarter of the network is now signaling SegWit activation.




That being said, there is still a  very long way to go before this solution becomes official. Although the exact percentage of activation is rumored at 95% network hashrate, it appears the developers may need to lower that threshold in the coming weeks. Once the majority of miners agree on this solution, that should be sufficient to have it activated.

At the same time, it is advised that all community members and mining pool operators thoroughly review the SegWit code before implementing it. Other options are available as well, though most companies seemingly agree that the block size issue has been lingering far too long and needs to be resolved sooner rather than later.

One possible concern is how one or two mining pools could disrupt the activation of Segregated Witness on the Bitcoin network. Even though ViaBTC’s hashpower has been dropping steadily in the past 24 hours, they still hold enough hashpower to disrupt the activation process. Only time will tell how this scenario will play out.

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