The on again, off again Segwit 2x hard fork is on again. The controversial and divisive plan to increase block size has once again been announced, this time for the 28th of December, 2017. Will the fork even happen, and how will the market react to this news?
In recent times Bitcoin has benefited from the additional attention and speculative money brought in by hard forks. The lure of "free coins" has historically seen the altcoin market bleed as crypto investors move their money to where it is likely to be most profitable. Will this pattern continue? If so, is it now time to start thinking about taking some profit on the altcoin explosion over the last week and move it back into BTC (especially since BTC has dropped below $18,000 at the time of writing this article)?
The scaling solution of increased block size can best be described as a "band-aid for a bullet wound". The problem with the proposed hard fork is its promise to improve scalability through increased block size is simply not sustainable for the purposes of mass adoption (approx 100,000 TPS). Add to this the lightning network fork (scheduled for 23 December 2017) which has reportedly tested well, and the solution being proposed by B2x may be rendered obsolete before it even launches.
Given the recent success of Bitcoin Cash, it is little wonder why B2x is back on the cards. It will be very profitable for the developers as once again the newbies are exploited by what can only be described as psychological manipulation through the use of the prefix "Bitcoin".
This is just my opinion on a topic that is undoubtedly going to cause much speculation and debate. I'd love to hear what all of you have to say. Please leave your thoughts on B2x in the comments below.
Disclaimer postscript: This article assumes the announcement made on https://coindar.org is accurate. This is an open source site and the B2x fork announcement is yet to be validated.
Stay stoked, keep frothing, and always remember...... an informed investor is a successful investor.
Fish (The Beach Bum Investor)