Difference between revisions of "SegWit2x"

From Bitcoin Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search
(General introduction)
 
m
 
(9 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
 +
:''Not to be confused with [[Segregated Witness|SegWit]].''<br/>
 +
'''SegWit2x''', (abbreviated '''B2X''' or '''S2X''', and originally called '''SegWit2Mb'''), was a failed contentious hardfork attempt outlined in the [[New York Agreement]] that intended to double the block size limit. The hardfork has been denounced as an attempt made by CEOs and owners of large Bitcoin businesses to introduce changes to the currency's protocol and development cycle with ulterior motives.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/ktorpey/2017/10/31/is-bitcoin-facing-a-corporate-takeover-via-the-2x-fork-a-developer-and-a-business-leader-debate/#11a821363bff|title=Is Bitcoin Facing A Corporate Takeover Via The '2x' Fork? A Developer And A Business Leader Debate|work=Forbes|author=Torpey, Kyle|date=October 31, 2017|accessdate=November 29, 2017}}</ref>
  
SegWit2x (do not confuse with [[SegWit]]), also called B2X, was an attempt made by CEOs and owners of several Bitcoin businesses to introduce a change in Bitcoin with following goals:
+
Though over 80% of miners signaled intention for SegWit2x and the New York Agreement, it failed to gain any consensus among the community and Core developers. As it became clear that the execution of the fork would lead to a currency split, the address format was deliberately kept identical and no replay protection was implemented, which would have caused many BTC users to inadvertently use B2X. Additionally, code changes were made that allowed B2X nodes to pretend to be BTC nodes in order to connect and use P2P peers from the bitcoin network when synchronizing. Due to these qualities, many users considered B2X to be an outright attack on the bitcoin network, but its designers continued marketing it as an upgrade.
  
* increase block size limit to be 2 times bigger, despite block size being already increased by over 50% (for users of SegWit-enabled wallets) done just 3 months earlier by [[SegWit]] update.
+
== Cancellation and aftermath ==
* remove all other Bitcoin developers from their position
+
The SegWit2x hardfork was declared cancelled in a joint statement by six individuals.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-segwit2x/2017-November/000685.html|title=Segwit2x Final Steps|author=Belsche, Mike et al.|date=November 8, 2017}}</ref> In the following hours, the price of B2X futures (called BT2 on [[Bitfinex]]) dropped to 1% of the price of [[Bitcoin]] (BTC, called BT1 as a Bitfinex future).
* instead install Jeff Garzik as the new de-facto developer (and possibly others)
 
  
== Support rate ==
+
Despite the cancellation, some parties intended to proceed with the hard fork.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/mysterious-group-bitpico-threatens-to-execute-segwit2x-hard-fork/|title=Mysterious Group BitPico Threatens to Execute the Bitcoin Hard Fork|work=Cryptocoins News|author=Wilmoth, Josiah|date=November 11, 2017|accessdate=November 29, 2017}}</ref> However, when the SegWit2x nodes split from the rest of the network on November 17, it was found that they had done so one block earlier than anticipated, at block 494782.<ref name="cd">{{cite web|url=https://www.coindesk.com/no-fork-no-fire-segwit2x-nodes-stall-running-abandoned-bitcoin-code/|title=No Fork, No Fire: Segwit2x Nodes Stall Running Abandoned Bitcoin Code|work=[[CoinDesk]]|author=Higgins, Stan|date=November 17, 2017|accessdate=November 29, 2017}}</ref> This was due to an [[wikipedia:off-by-one error|off-by-one error]] as a result of counting up from the [[genesis block]] instead of from block 1. After splitting off, SegWit2x nodes were then waiting for the first block of >1MB to begin the chain fork. But the protocol rules say that the block size increase does not occur until block 494784, so because block 494783 is both required to be at most 1 MB by the original rules and greater than 1 MB by the new rules,{{citation needed}} SegWit2x had come to a permanent standstill.<ref name="cd"/>
  
It failed to gain consensus among community:
+
== References ==
 +
<references/>
  
* over 80% of miners by hashare (though they were just signaling, and this has no cryptographic or economical meaning or repercussions)
+
[[Category:Block size limit controversy]]
* just below 20% of users by economy ([https://www.bitfinex.com/order_book/bt2btc BitFinex futures market as BT2 token]) (representing actual trades that were executed for money)
+
[[Category:Direct code forks of Bitcoin Core]]
* around 0% of Bitcoin developers (Bitcoin Core)
+
[[Category:Failed hardforks]]
 
+
[[Category:Contentious hardforks]]
== Attack or upgrade ==
 
 
 
It was created in a way that would trick users into unknowingly switching to B2X from BTC, due to:
 
 
 
* no replay protection
 
* simple SPV wallets without special tools to detect the problem would accept B2X blocks as BTC blocks
 
* same address formats
 
* code changes that allowed B2X nodes to pretend to be BTC nodes in order to connect and use P2P peers from BTC network
 
 
 
due to this qualities, many users considered B2X and attack on BTC network.
 
 
 
B2X was marketed by it's creators as an "upgrade".
 

Latest revision as of 22:31, 24 February 2019

Not to be confused with SegWit.

SegWit2x, (abbreviated B2X or S2X, and originally called SegWit2Mb), was a failed contentious hardfork attempt outlined in the New York Agreement that intended to double the block size limit. The hardfork has been denounced as an attempt made by CEOs and owners of large Bitcoin businesses to introduce changes to the currency's protocol and development cycle with ulterior motives.[1]

Though over 80% of miners signaled intention for SegWit2x and the New York Agreement, it failed to gain any consensus among the community and Core developers. As it became clear that the execution of the fork would lead to a currency split, the address format was deliberately kept identical and no replay protection was implemented, which would have caused many BTC users to inadvertently use B2X. Additionally, code changes were made that allowed B2X nodes to pretend to be BTC nodes in order to connect and use P2P peers from the bitcoin network when synchronizing. Due to these qualities, many users considered B2X to be an outright attack on the bitcoin network, but its designers continued marketing it as an upgrade.

Cancellation and aftermath

The SegWit2x hardfork was declared cancelled in a joint statement by six individuals.[2] In the following hours, the price of B2X futures (called BT2 on Bitfinex) dropped to 1% of the price of Bitcoin (BTC, called BT1 as a Bitfinex future).

Despite the cancellation, some parties intended to proceed with the hard fork.[3] However, when the SegWit2x nodes split from the rest of the network on November 17, it was found that they had done so one block earlier than anticipated, at block 494782.[4] This was due to an off-by-one error as a result of counting up from the genesis block instead of from block 1. After splitting off, SegWit2x nodes were then waiting for the first block of >1MB to begin the chain fork. But the protocol rules say that the block size increase does not occur until block 494784, so because block 494783 is both required to be at most 1 MB by the original rules and greater than 1 MB by the new rules,[citation needed] SegWit2x had come to a permanent standstill.[4]

References