BIP 91 to the rescue, at 81.2%.

That should regain some trust in Bitcoin and that is good for all cryptos.

A smart soft fork that saves the day.

There is a reason the cryptocurrency market recovered so quickly, as it seems now. And the reason might just be for the most the release of a smart solution for the SegWit challenge in the Bitcoin realm. It has a name that for many sounds like a code in itself: BIP91. All about miners signalling with a bit that is set, but that is a quite a technical, that I will not even go into. For one as it is way to warm and it also could use several post that add nothing in value for most readers. Therefore I will just keep it as simple as possible. With the good news that it looks like in the Bitcoin realm all noses are pointing into the same direction again. And all that seems to have been made possible due to some very clever programming. That now makes SegWit activation become a reality.

One main reason this softfork known as BIP 91 will make sure the Bitcoin will stay on one and the same blockchain is by refusing clients that could cause a split. Being active in the Slothcoin community I did experience a few blockchain split attacks. This was tried a few times by older Slothcoin versions with big mining power backing it. Luckily the latest version of Slothcoin got full 100% network support. So the changes could safely kick in from block 300K onwards. And the longest and toughest chain (with the most added difficulty) was created by the newest software version. Yet, somehow I did overlook the chance of an older version trying to split attack the current blockchain. Still with the community support the attacks were countered. That also showed it is difficult for an older version to succeed in creating enough blocks to even create a split.

One thing that helped was blocking the IP addresses that were initiating the blockchain split attacks. This was done without creating an adjusted Slothcoin version. A thing called a firewall came in very handy, so the attacker had a hard time connecting to the network, no matter how much mining power it had. Then the Slothcoin community threw in all their combined mining power and made sure the right blockchain was regaining strength. Over time becoming even stronger by the added difficulty of mining a block. Now the Bitcoin blockchain will not have to go through all that trouble, thanks to the BIP 91 softfork. All the mining supporters of the upcoming SegWitX2 changes have to do is to send a signal, a Beep as you want, that they support it. And as long as over 80% of the miners agree for a period of 336 blocks in a row, the Bitcoin blockchain is as good as safe.

Lock and load for SegWitX2.

Two days and 8 hours it will take after the first 80% plus approval by the Bitcoin miners to lock the softfork in. After this miners that do not signal to support BIP 91, the path to SegWit, will be rejected from the network. In effect this means that rogue miners will be kept out of the longest {most chained blocks in a row} and strongest {accumulated difficulty} blockchain. As long as at least 51% of the mining power keeps supporting the main Bitcoin blockchain. To keep it simple again: it cannot be split, there will be only one real Bitcoin blockchain. And miners that refuse to signal for SegWit support simply will lose their chance of getting 12.5 BTC per found block. Of course the transaction payments that come with every block are also lost for them. It will be for them like cutting into their own flesh, but maybe they have plans to move on to other things. Because BTC will become way to expensive after this is all history and the cryptocurrency market will reward in growth for the relief...?

And I have to state here, I will not offer to eat my own slong dong live on social media, as some seem to have done, but I still believe BTC will rise in value again soon. It was constructed to hold large capital value per Bitcoin, to hold mortgages of hundreds of thousand, to millions in a few BTC. That is beyond being the digital equivalence of gold. And I am perfectly okay with paying thousand in transaction costs to a miner that will secure my house being sold. But even for small payments there might be coming a solution thanks to SegWit. Though that is still future music, because Bitcoin first needs to get passed this bump in the road. And with BIP 91 about to be locked in, that is getting very realistic. Even though all of a sudden it seems Segwit gets more signalling. But either way, within a few days all those who are cryptos minded will know that is will be alright.

But what about BU and how does Steem fit in?

Bitcoin Unlimited {BU} and the other parties came to a consensus recently that also the blocksize of Bitcoin would double. Therefore a real solution came into sight. And it must have been quite a burdon to get all noses pointing into the same direction: the cryptos future. Even though there are still those miners who support Bitcoin Unlimited, they are in a minority of 2.1%. Maybe they do not know the SegWit war is over yet, because the SegWitX2 treaty was signed, sealed and delivered? But if the want to have a chance to earn BTC, they better move over fast. And it really looks like the vast majority of miners and users agree this is, for now the best path to take. Double blocksize, becoming quadrupled in effect thanks to more efficient block management, will have the congestion solved in a jiffy. And if one wants to have a transaction get in a block fast? Well, just offer a good price that the miner market likes.

Why should the cryptos realm cheer for things like BIP 91 securing the future of Bitcoin at all? Well, most trading is done against BTC in the cryptocurrency markets. That is the standard and the recent dip that dropped the whole cryptocurrency market by almost 48% is also correlated to the trust in Bitcoin as a standard for holding high capital value. Steem is dependend on the value of BTC and the trust of investors in the whole of the cryptos realm. Now, in the worst case scenario Litecoin could maybe take over the lead from Bitcoin, but that would do severe damage to the whole of the cryptos market. Just look at the recent dip, and that one was for a part triggered by the fear of BTC splitting. And also caused by the flood of golddigging fake ICO/ ITO releases. But they will get flushed away over time. But a possible Bitcoin blockchain split? That was experienced as a doom scenario. Very bad for cryptos (like Steem), a lot of businesses and those who have BTC in their porfolio.

There is real hope.

If Bitcoin picks up again, proves to be worthy the trust of the cryptocurrency market, then things will take off big time again. And that will be good for Steem too. More capital value flowing into the cryptos market will mean a higher value for Steem too. The market price for Steem already is back at 1.26 US$ and the next ceiling for the total cryptos market cap has passed the 85 billion ceiling (a point that often gets followed by a short dip). So next ceiling is 97 billion as I expect it to go and if BIP 91 gets full support soon then things will start to take off. Do not know for the 500K US$ per BTC, or the 12 US$ per Steem, but it sure will be all about green. That for the top 25 of the cryptocurrecy market. So, if the Steem developement Dream Team could fix the registration challenge with hardfork 20 and announce the Community Tokens as coming up soon, well then we are in for fun rollarcoaster ride!

But, remember, only invest in cryptos what you are willing and able to lose. Also, your speculation might be as bad or as good as mine...

Have a great one!

BIP 91 and SegWitX2 when will it get locked in?

screenshot by @oaldamster of XBT dot EU