After months of heated debate, the controversial bitcoin Segwit2x hard fork originally scheduled for mid-November has been called off due to “insufficient consensus”, according to a joint statement released by key figures supporting the split.
Key supporters of the Segwit2x hard fork have issued a joint statement announcing their decision to cancel the controversial fork scheduled for mid-November. The reasons invoked by the initiators are the lack of “sufficient consensus” and the risk of further dividing the bitcoin community.
The statement was signed by BitGo CEO Mike Belshe, Xapo CEO Wences Casares, BITMAIN co-founder Jihan Wu, Bloq co-founder Jeff Garzik, Blockchain CEO and co-founder Peter Smith, and ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees.
“Our goal has always been a smooth upgrade for Bitcoin. Although we strongly believe in the need for a larger blocksize, there is something we believe is even more important: keeping the community together. Unfortunately, it is clear that we have not built sufficient consensus for a clean blocksize upgrade at this time. Continuing on the current path could divide the community and be a setback to Bitcoin’s growth. This was never the goal of Segwit2x,” the joint statement reads.
Signers of the statement believe that an on-chain capacity increase remains a necessity, as transaction fees continue to rise.
“As fees rise on the blockchain, we believe it will eventually become obvious that on-chain capacity increases are necessary. When that happens, we hope the community will come together and find a solution, possibly with a blocksize increase. Until then, we are suspending our plans for the
upcoming 2MB upgrade,” the signers state.
The statement was released hours after blockchain, cryptocurrency and smart contracts pioneer Nick Szabo added a [NO2X]to his Twitter handle, expressing discontent with the Segwit2x hard fork.
The bitcoin Segwit2x fork was scheduled to take place at block 494,784, estimated to occur around November 16.
As a possible reaction to the Segwit2x fork cancellation, bitcoin (BTC) hit an all-time high of $7,800, before withdrawing into $7,200-$7,300 territory.
Bitcoin Segwit2x fork suspended – Image source: Orbmiser/Flickr