The bitcoin price reached a new all-time high of $7,776 after it was reported that the organisers of the controversial SegWit2x software upgrade had ‘suspended’ it.
In a circular sent out yesterday at 16:58 UTC by major proponent BitGo CEO Mike Belshe, he said that ‘it is clear that we have not built sufficient consensus for a clean blocksize upgrade at this time,’ adding:
Continuing on the current path could divide the community and be a setback to Bitcoin’s growth. This was never the goal of Segwit2x.
He added that with rising fees on the blockchain it will be necessary at some stage to implement on-chain capacity increases. When that time becomes evident, Melshe wrote, he hopes that a solution will be found, possibly with a blocksize increase.
Until then, we are suspending our plans for the upcoming 2MB upgrade, he said.
It was previously thought that SegWit2x would activate on or around the 16th November; however, as Belshe hasn’t provided a possible future date it remains to be seen when it will go ahead.
SegWit2x, or Segregated Witness 2x, has long been touted as the solution to solving bitcoin’s scaling issues, increasing the blocksize from 1MB to 2MB. Yet, due to a lack of consensus on the issue and the possibility of a blockchain split after its activation, that solution has, for now, been shelved.
Following the news of the suspension, bitcoin’s price reached a new all-time high, according to CoinMarketCap. At 17:34 UTC, yesterday, bitcoin was valued at $7,776 as the market reacted to the news. Since then, the currency has undergone a flash crash with its value plummeting to $7,070. Market volatility is expected as the impact of the decision to halt SegWit2x is realised.
News of the decision saw SegWit2x opponents coming out to celebrate the moment. Charlie Lee, Litecoin creator and an opponent of SegWit2x, took to social media to say that ‘common sense prevails.’
Whereas, Dogecoin creator Jackson Palmer stated that the move was merely ‘delaying the inevitable‘ and that ‘bitcoin scaling is far from removed.’
At the time of publishing, bitcoin’s value has recovered slightly and is currently trading at $7,164, figures from CoinMarketCap show.