Bitgo CEO Mike Belshe has proposed delaying SegWit2x in a statement signed by Jihan Wu, Jeff Garzik and Erik Voorhees as the third fork of Bitcoin is proving to be a very contentious proposal in the cryptocurrency community.
Belshe’s comments come as the Bitcoin industry is still trying to establish an opinion of the new fork, as the cryptocurrency has recently traded at new records yet with wildly fluctuating rates on a handful of exchanges.
Mike Belshe preferred to wait until the dust settles over the Segwit2x battle citing the seeming lack of community support as the particular threshold at which he decided to call off the hard fork, which was scheduled to split off in or around mid November.
“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.”
Many in the bitcoin community were quick to criticize the idea and disagreed with the process by which the decision to hard fork was made. The initiative has divided the Bitcoin community as many had concerns that it may result in a chain split.
Bitcoin Segwit2x (AKA NYA agreement) calls for a specific change in the rules of the Bitcoin blockchain which was scheduled for block 494,784 to increase the Bitcoin block size from 1 MB to 2 MB.
Until recently, it looked like many investors, traders, developers and users were on board with SegWit2x, a proposal that its supporters claim will move the threshold for implementation down to 70 percent or more. That was heightened after Bitcoin Cash, an alternative to both Bitcoin and the SegWit2x version, entered the picture.
Commentators are backing the decision, with Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin and former Coinbase executive, joining the sentiment that the overall effect on Bitcoin’s proposed fork might be negative.
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