Bitcoin’s very public scaling debate is entering a crucial phase. Two of the most popular scaling proposals available today —
BIP148 and
SegWit2x — both intend to trigger
Segregated Witness (“SegWit”) activation within a month, which means that the protocol upgrade could be live within two.
At the same time, there is a very real risk that Bitcoin “splits.” Both BIP148 and SegWit2x could diverge from the current Bitcoin protocol, which could in turn lead to even more splits.