Bitcoin appears to be finally preventing its split into two blockchains that would create two currencies, during a future upgrade of its network to enhance its ability to process more transactions.
Bitcoin miners said Friday they support the so-called Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 91, avoiding a split of bitcoin into two blockchains. Bitcoin miners represent a network of computer operators who maintain the blockchain, or public ledger of all bitcoin transactions
BIP 91 is the first step in a larger effort to upgrade bitcoin through software called SegWit2x.
According to Reuters, on Friday, support for BIP 91 reached nearly 100%, exceeding the required threshold of 80%, according to analysts and digital currency market participants.
Some investors are starting to take Bitcoin seriously, given its explosive performance and potential to rival gold and government-issued money as a store of value. Demand for Bitcoin has surged in eight years, with a market capitalization of $40 billion…
But fears of a Bitcoin split have curbed the frenzied demand for the digital currency in recent weeks. After hitting a record high of $3,000, bitcoin began to fall to $1,830 on the Bitstamp exchange. On Friday, it was trading at $2,647.
The software upgrade comes to address the limitations of the bitcoin network in processing the millions of daily transactions. The Bitcoin network was starting to be unable to process all the transactions fast enough.
“BIP 91 brings the next innovation, because Bitcoin was a little slow,” said Rob Viglione, co-founder of ZenCash, a digital currency focused on privacy and security.
Before the approval of BIP 91, some industry investors were concerned that it could split into two independent currencies because the network's core developers and miners wanted different ways to scale Bitcoin.
Bitcoin: The compromise between the two groups was achieved through SegWit2x.
“Bitcoin now has a clear path with additional features that allow for faster transactions at lower costs,” said Charles Hayter, CEO of Cryptocompare, a digital currency analysis firm.
The full upgrade to the Bitcoin network won't happen before the fall, Viglione said, because there's a lot that needs to be done before the new software can go live.
Market participants have already complained about transaction delays. Analysts say a Bitcoin transaction costs an average of 83 cents to execute, meaning micropayments are not feasible on the network.
The network is also limited to about seven transactions per second. In comparison, Visa handles an average of 2,000 transactions per second.
