A lot of cryptocurrency enthusiasts are keeping a very close eye on the Litecoin ecosystem as we speak. After an agreement was formed after the Litecoin Roundtable Resolution, nearly all LTC mining pools are now signaling SegWit support. At this rate, it is a matter of weeks until Segregated Witness activates on the Litecoin network. An interesting development that is worth keeping an eye on.

Litecoin Will Receive SegWit Very Soon

Two days ago, the cryptocurrency community received quite an interesting surprise. A document was published on Medium outlining how operators of all Litecoin mining pools came together to discuss the future of the network. It took about 8 hours until an agreement was reached, although very few people expected such a positive outcome. All parties agreed on activating Segregated Witness on the Litecoin network, which is a rather surprising development.

Not too long ago, it appeared some of the larger Chinese mining pools would continue to stall SegWit activation on the Litecoin network. The same pools opposing SegWit on Bitcoin did so for Litecoin, although they have come around where the LTC network is concerned. All parties endorse a Segregated Witness soft fork, which would provide the scaling upgrade to the network. In doing so, Litecoin becomes the first major cryptocurrency to activate SegWit, after several smaller altcoins had done so in recent weeks.

A lot of people were surprised to learn Bitmain supported this resolution. After all, the company and its mining pool have not been too keen on SegWit for bitcoin, and it is doubtful they will change their stance anytime soon. However, now that all parties agree on activating the scaling solution on the Llitecoin network,  it is possible things will change for bitcoin in the future too. So far, Bitmain has yet to signal Segwit for Litecoin on their mining pool, though.

The other mining pools who were opposing the solution have all switched over to SegWit signaling as we speak. LTC1BTC and LTC.TOP were two of the major pools that had yet to implement the signaling, yet it appears they have done so a few hours ago. That is quite a significant development, as it goes to show Segregated Witness will be activated on the network very soon.  Even if Bitmain were to back out on this agreement – which seems highly unlikely – the pool does not control enough hashpower to delay SegWit activation. 

[Update]: Antpool is now signaling Segwit on the Litecoin network.

It is good to see such a major cryptocurrency take the plunge on SegWit, even though most people want to see this solution activated on the bitcoin network. Litecoin may take away some of bitcoin’s momentum and market share once SegWit activates, although it remains to be seen if there will be any noticeable difference to speak of. Bitcoin has lost quite a bit of its market share over the past few months, as multiple altcoins are establishing their presence in the cryptocurrency world

For now, the whole Litecoin community is waiting to see Antpool’s first block signaling Segregated Witness. Considering how it is one of the smaller pools, it may take a while until that happens, though. Moreover, this seems to nullify any “risks” associated with bringing the user-activated soft fork to the Litecoin ecosystem, which will put investors’ minds at ease. An interesting development, that much is certain. 

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