SegWit2x

Why Trust Techopedia

What Does SegWit2x Mean?

SegWit2x is a new policy proposal for the cryptocurrency bitcoin that is now under consideration in the bitcoin community. It builds on a prior protocol called Segregated Witness or SegWit. SegWit and SegWit2x can have some long-term ramifications for the use of bitcoin and related technologies in a financial process, as cryptocurrencies rival traditional national currencies.

Advertisements

Techopedia Explains SegWit2x

The original SegWit optimization was attributed to a developer in the “Bitcoin Core,” the center of the open-source bitcoin community. Developer Pieter Wuille created SegWit in 2015 to increase volumes of transactions in each bitcoin block.

By contrast, SegWit2x has not been endorsed by the Bitcoin Core, but is currently in testing – while implementing the original SegWit, SegWit2x would also create a process for increasing block size in order to facilitate even more transactions.

Due to a debate over the use of SegWit2x, its utility is in question. Another proposal called BIP 148 is also competing for attention and allegiance.

Advertisements

Related Terms

Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.