Coinbase, Bitfinex and the Bitcoin Core Wallet are implementing SegWit

Both Coinbase and Bitfinex announced a few hours ago that they will implement the SegWit code on their exchanges, supporting lower transaction costs and shorter processing times. In addition, the Bitcoin Core Wallet will introduce support in version 0.16.0 SegWit.

Coinbase yesterday announced via Twitter the long-awaited SegWit upgrade. The upgrade, fully-featured Segregated Witness, was made available in August by the developers of Bitcoin Core.

SegWit should not be confused or equated with SegWit2x. SegWit2x had the goal to increase the block size of Bitcoin Core. As part of the SegWit2x-November drama, the initially targeted Hard Fork was canceled shortly before the Fork date because of lack of support.

SegWit, on the other hand, aims to reduce transaction fees and the size of transactions, which means more transactions can be stored in each block, and the overall burden on the Bitcoin network is reduced. Users of Coinbase have long been demanding the implementation of SegWit. Coinbase previously pointed out, as in a blog post from 15 December 2017, that the introduction of SegWit is associated with a considerable effort.

Coinbase announced in yesterday’s tweet that it is phasing out SegWit. In the middle of next week, all customers should be converted.

After being quiet about the SegWit implementation of Bitcoin for a long time, there is now positive news. Both Coinbase and Bitfinex announced a few hours ago that they will implement the SegWit code on their exchanges, supporting lower transaction costs and shorter processing times. In addition, the Bitcoin Core Wallet will introduce support in version 0.16.0 SegWit.

Coinbase yesterday announced via Twitter the long-awaited SegWit upgrade. The upgrade, fully-featured Segregated Witness, was made available in August by the developers of Bitcoin Core.

SegWit should not be confused or equated with SegWit2x. SegWit2x had the goal to increase the block size of Bitcoin Core. As part of the SegWit2x-November drama, the initially targeted Hard Fork was canceled shortly before the Fork date because of lack of support.

SegWit, on the other hand, aims to reduce transaction fees and the size of transactions, which means more transactions can be stored in each block, and the overall burden on the Bitcoin network is reduced. Users of Coinbase have long been demanding the implementation of SegWit. Coinbase previously pointed out, as in a blog post from 15 December 2017, that the introduction of SegWit is associated with a considerable effort.

Coinbase announced in yesterday’s tweet that it is phasing out SegWit. In the middle of next week, all customers should be converted.

Also yesterday, Bitfinex announced the implementation of Segregated Witness in a blog post. According to Bitfinex, users of the Exchange should be able to pay about 15 percent less user withdrawal fees while benefiting from faster processing times. All Bitfinex users have been provided with SegWit-enabled Bitcoin wallets that can be used to send and receive BTC.

Bitcoin Core Wallet 0.16.0

Also no SegWit support offered until recently the Bitcoin Core Wallet. With version 0.16.0 this will change from now on. According to the release on Github, the new version introduces the full functionality of SegWit for both programmers via the command line and non-programmers through the wallet user interface.

In addition, version 0.16.0 will also be the first version to introduce “native SegWit addresses”, also called bech32 addresses. The format is said to be more user-friendly and supports SegWit transactions automatically.

The spread of SegWit was with about 14 percent of all Bitcoin transactions so far rather low. It remains to be seen if and how SegWit will affect the Bitcoin network. This will certainly depend heavily on the adaptation of the new releases.