F2Pool now Signals SegWit yet the Reasoning Behind it Remains Unclear

The ongoing bitcoin scaling discussions has taken yet another interesting turn. F2Pool, one of the largest mining pools in the world, successfully mined its first SegWit signaling block. That is rather interesting, as the pool owner opposed SegWit for the longest time. It appears reaching the activation threshold on the litecoin network made him change his mind.

F2Pool has A Change of Heart

Quite a few bitcoin enthusiasts were surprised to find out F2Pool is now signalling SegWit activation. Although this may shake things up a bit, it will not lead to Segregated Witness getting activated on the network any sooner. Some additional hashpower is always welcome when it comes to signaling support, but it will not make much of a difference for the time being.

It is quite interesting to see F2Pool suddenly signal SegWit support, though. Given its position in the market, their “preference” for a scaling solution holds a lot of merit among bitcoin miners. Now that F2Pool openly signals for SegWit, it remains to be seen if miners will move their hashpower to a different platform that aligns with their preferences, though.

The bigger question is whether or not any other mining pools opposing SegWit will suddenly change their mind as well. After all, Segregated Witness still has under 30% of mining support right now, and requires 95% to activate on the network. Reaching such a high threshold is unfeasible at best, though, as Bitcoin Unlimited and support for 8 MB blocks combine for over 40% of network hashpower right now.

What is worth noting is how the first SegWit block mined by F2pool also supports Extensions Blocks. Both solutions will serve as a layer for the Lightning network in the future, yet do things slightly differently. In the end, it remains doubtful any of these scaling solutions will activate on the network anytime soon since they all control a portion of hashpower but in insufficient amount to see one succeed over the others.

According to one of the recent F2Pool tweets, the switch to SegWit signaling is a direct result of the pool suffering from a DDoS attack. That seems a rather strange message, to say the least. It is unclear if there is any truth to this statement and who might be behind the DDoS attack. It does not change the fact Wang Chun – the owner of F2Pool – feels SegWit will be a “disaster” for the bitcoin network, though.

Samson Mow shared his thoughts on the current F2Pool situation. In his opinion, Wang Chun is signaling SW support, knowing all too well the concept will not activate without support from the largest Chinese pools. At the same time, he can oppose the user-activated soft fork by signaling the “original” SegWit activation concept. It is evident this change of heart is nothing more than political games being played right now.

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