Bitcoin trading is on the rise once again, as the market briefly visited new all-time highs yesterday. Following last night’s news that the CME Group is starting to test its futures contract that caused the first run higher, Coinbase is reporting that the postponed SegWit2x fork will occur later today.
The news boosted the leading cryptocurrency once more to another all-time high of just above $8000. Since then prices have retreated to just above $7500 only to rebound back towards $8000 as of now, following the news published on the website of Coinbase.
“The Bitcoin Segwit2x fork is expected to occur in the next six hours,” outlines the statement.
In the run-up to the event, prices are being driven higher in the anticipation that demand for the new coin that derives from Bitcoin will result in trading opportunities.
BTC Forks Stir Additional Interest
As is the case with other forks, the holders of Bitcoin will get another coin, based on a 2mb block size.
Last week a cancellation claim on the SegWit2x fork drove prices of Bitcoin lower and promoted a rush into Bitcoin Cash that has increased almost fivefold during the previous week. A subsequent post by a mysterious group later claimed that the fork is still happening.
Commenting on a post on the public blogging platform Medium, the communications director of Coinbase, David Farmer, said that the exchange did not expect the fork to successfully split Bitcoin into two. According to the post, the community is still lacking support for the move.
Speculative behavior from investors in cryptocurrencies has been rampant in recent weeks as the largest cryptocurrency by market cap has benefitted from increasing demand. Not only did the Chicago Mercantile Exchange stir interest with the announcement about a planned launch of Bitcoin futures, but the community also went awry over the prospect of the SegWit2x fork happening after all.
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