Segwit2x — Positioning Yourself for the Fork
As anyone with half an ear turned toward the crypto ecosystem knows, the Bitcoin network is anticipating a long-awaited hardfork this month. Currently expected for November 16th, Segwit2x will activate the second half of its commitment. At that time, the nodes supporting the proposal (also referred to as the New York Agreement — NYA) will start accepting blocks at twice the previously accepted size.
Despite its proponents’ stated goal of network unity, Segwit2x has elicited a considerable amount of opposition, making a chain split a near certainty at this point.
Various Groups Show Resistance
The pushback began with a resounding rejection by virtually all core developers when first proposed earlier this year. Over the past month, however, the voices speaking out against it have been steadily rising in number.
From Brazil to Germany to Israel to Hong Kong, various meetups and community groups have issued public statements and open letters expressing their rejection of the change (starting with our own local group right here in Seoul).
Miners Wavering on Commitments
And it’s not just the grassroots hobbyists — miners, too, have been showing waning support, despite being among the most influential and most well represented industries among Segwit2x backers. In the past few weeks, we’ve seen F2pool and Kano CK Pool stop signalling for NYA.
Furthermore, among the pools still signalling support, contradictory public statements have been in no short supply. Both bitcoin.com and ViaBTC have come out strongly in preference of Bitcoin Cash, and others like BTC.top have simply declared their intention to continue mining whatever is most profitable.
What Keeps the BTC ticker?
The battle over the ‘BTC’ ticker seems to leaning heavily in favor of the original chain. At the time of writing, most exchanges and businesses have either kept silent on the issue, or made one of two statements:
- The original chain is BTC, and Segwit2x is B2X
- Whichever chain has greater accumulated hashpower will be dubbed BTC
As for companies wholly committed to assigning the new Segwit2x chain the prestigious ‘BTC’ ticker, bitcoin.com seems to stand alone.
Considering the staunch defiance and wavering support emerging in previous weeks, the question seems to be shifting from “which chain will win?” to “will the Segwit2x chain even survive?”
What to do as an individual holder and trader?
If someone is confident of Segwit2x’s immediate demise after the chain split occurs at block 494784, then you’re best bet is probably a futures market, like the one offer on Bitfinex or HitBTC.
For example, if you trust Bitfinex to hold your coin through the fork, you can already split your BTC there into two tokens named BT1 and BT2. Each of these will only be redeemable after the fork date. If you want to do this, though, you may want to hurry, since the BT2 price has dropped down to approximately 1000USD, down from a high of 1400USD late last week.
If you prefer to withdraw to your own personal hardware or software wallet for safety during these more turbulent times, then it’s important to do your homework if you intend to split your coins.
The two kings of personal cold storage have had different takes on the issue: Ledger has committed to offer coin splitting as soon as possible, but Trezor has rejected Segwit2x support altogether. Software wallets, too, have had varied stances.
And if you’re a leverage fiend who can’t keep away from BitMEX’s leverage options, you might find yourself having to forgo directly trading Segwit2x altogether. They’re not planning on offering any support whatsoever.
Whatever the outcome, the coming weeks are sure to come with volatility, excitement and risk. But as we all know, that’s where opportunity lies.
Happy trading, and good luck.
