With the rising pressure to solve Bitcoin's scaling issue, three solutions emerge that can finally ease the crowded blocks from grinding to a complete stop. But with the camps of BIP 148, Segwit2x and Bitcoin Unlimited all out war to for the supreme solution, a possible hardfork from Bitcoin Unlimited may possibly split the Bitcoin network in half.
A QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE FORKS
SEGWIT - it is a soft fork that separates the signature of the blocks which accounts around 60% of the size. Since the signature is separated from the main block, it creates more space for other transactions to fit in.
The Bitcoin Unlimited team on the other hand argue that segwit violates the original intention of the founder, Satoshi Nakamoto and that the code of the blocks should only be scaled on-chain which means expanding the 1mb block size limit. The Bitcoin Unlimited team also argue that all transactions of the network must be stored in the blockchain which segwit wants to change.
With the war between the Devs and the miners go out of hand, we may see yet again a contentious hard fork that may split the blockchain and possibly your Bitcoins apart. If majority of miners and users won't unanimously choose to signal either Bip148, Segwit2x or Bitcoin Unlimited forks, Bitcoin's blockchain might split.
The good news is that your bitcoin will be copied to the other bitcoin chains. The bad news is that you might lose your funds in the coin-split. This scenario isn't new to the crypto world and luckily we can safeguard our Bitcoins from the upcoming Armageddon.
A LOOK INTO THE ETHEREUM SPLIT
Ethereum was built to be the world's supercomputer which is totally different from the bitcoin project. Ethereum coin will then be used to run applications called DAPPS. We will focus on the DAPP that created the most controversy in the Ethereum project, the DAO.
When the DAO was hacked on the Ethereum last year, the attempt to rescue the funds split the ethereum community into two sides.
The DAO was hacked and the hacker gained access to the locked DAO funds which the hacker attempted to transfer to another DAO account which he controlled. In an attempt to recover the funds, the majority of the community voted to change the Ethereum's Code to return the funds to the original investors.
While most of the community applauded the Ethereum dev team for a swift response, the action didn't sit well with some who see the action as a central control on a network that is supposed to be decentralised and immutable.
WHY USERS DID NOT SUPPORT THE HARD FORK?
- Code is Law: the DAO's code should prevail
- The blockchain is immutable and should not be changed regardless of the outcome.
- The decision to return the money is short sighted and may affect the ETH network.
- The hardfork itself is a form of bailout.
The split in the community spread to the physical world when a group of miners decided to continue mining on the old Ethereum chain hence the Ethereum Classic was born.
WHAT'S IN IT FOR BITCOIN?
With the potential split on the Bitcoin network, we might see another attempt at splitting the Bitcoin into two with enough miners mining a different blockchain. With this in mind, we can take precautionary steps to avoid losing your Bitcoins in an event of a split.
BEFORE AUGUST 1, if you decide to hold on to your Bitcoins, you must ensure that you control your own private keys. It is not advisable for you to store your cryptos on an exchange for the exchanges holds your private keys and that might withhold your coins from the other chain. Some exchanges may support a bitcoin fork that you don't so check with your exchanges on which fork they will be supporting.
So to be safe, transfer your Bitcoins to a wallet in which you control the private keys(preferably paper or hardware wallets). Avoid any transactions in the week of the fork and if the chain splits, transfer your coins to the wallets on the new blockchains.
You can create a wallet at BitAddress.org
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