Exchange and wallet service Coinbase and its professional trading platform Global Digital Asset Exchange GDAX both announced they had implemented Segregated Witness (SegWit) support for Bitcoin transactions in blog posts published Friday, Feb. 23. In their blog pos, GDAX characterizes SegWit technology as “a critical step forward in the development of Bitcoin” and promises support for SegWit transactions will be made available to 100% of their customers “over the coming days”. Coinbase also said they would be rolling out support for all customers over the next week. SegWit technology is designed to reduce transactions times and fees on the Bitcoin …

Since the inception of Bitcoin less than 10 years ago, there has undoubtedly not been a busier year than 2017, the Year of the Rooster, for the whole cryptocurrency market. Now, as Chinese New Year dawns, the Year of the Dog, it is worth looking back at all that happened. It all began relatively inconspicuously back in January 2017 with Bitcoin breaking the $1,000 mark, but from there the cryptocurrency market would make its mark, both in the mainstream and in the global markets. A gradual climb 2017 welcomed Bitcoin well at the top of the table, sitting just above …

A patent for a system that would allow for modifications of a Blockchain protocol without a consensus from all participants of the network, originally filed by the CME Group in December 2017, has been published by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) last Thursday, Feb. 8. In most Blockchain-based networks, such as Bitcoin’s, modifying the protocol currently requires a network consensus that can be hard to achieve, making the system more resilient, but also harder to upgrade when needed. The Segregated Witness (SegWit) upgrade, originally designed to add transaction malleability but now focused on Bitcoin scalability, required a 95 …

What is Segregated Witness? It’s an updated version. The original article was published April 20, 2017 Segregated Witness, often abbreviated to SegWit, is a proposed update to the Bitcoin software, designed to fix a range of serious issues. It is developed by its long-standing team. Bitcoin Core is currently the most popular Bitcoin reference client, in use by the majority of the businesses in the industry. Originally, the update was aimed at solving transaction malleability, a well-known weak spot in Bitcoin software. Although this vector of attack is not the most damaging to the users, it has been exploited in …

Anybody who was drawn to Bitcoin in the very earliest days might have been put off by one significant fact. Bitcoin’s biggest exchange, where they would likely go to purchase the currency, was bizarrely called: “Magic the Gathering Online Exchange,” or Mt. Gox for short. Anybody who was confused as to why they needed to go to a “Magic the Gathering” website to purchase Bitcoin probably just went ahead and closed their browser. A nascent economy Mt. Gox is just one example of the type of services (or lack thereof) provided during Bitcoin’s infancy. Eventually more reputable exchanges would come …

Bitcoin mining pool F2pool has become the latest signatory to U-turn on its commitment to the controversial SegWit2x hard fork. Following wallet provider Bitwala, F2pool’s Wang Chun said he “didn’t pull out of anything” and had only voiced support for the project “until July.” I didn't pull out of anything. I told @JihadWu long time ago that I would support segwit2x only until July. Now it is September. pic.twitter.com/L6777re9tP — Wang Chun (@f2pool_wangchun) September 1, 2017 The news marks another blow for Barry Silbert’s New York Agreement, which has faced trouble with consensus since its inception. SegWit2x was originally due …

Bitcoin continues to push past $4700 as Charlie Shrem claims any price below $100,000 per coin is “cheap.” Part of an increasingly large and prominent group of well-known names highly bullish on Bitcoin, Shrem made the comments on Twitter Thursday as the overall cryptocurrency market cap topped $170 bln. There will only ever be 21 Million #Bitcoin. Its becoming increasingly harder to buy just 1. Anything below $100,000 per #Bitcoin is cheap — Charlie Shrem (@CharlieShrem) August 31, 2017 Bitcoin reached a new all-time high in the past 24 hours’ trading, coming in at $4740 on Bitstamp from a low …

While Bitcoin holds top spot in terms of market capitalization, the broader asset classes of altcoins have seen the market cap of all cryptocurrencies expand by nearly 800 percent to date. That growth equates to a market cap of $158.5 bln as it stands, which is currently 795 percent higher for the year. This market cap sees cryptocurrencies larger than many national currencies, as well as other major payment networks. Broad interest Bitcoin, as the most well know of the digital currencies, has seen huge growth recently with the successful implementation of SegWit. However, while Bitcoin’s market cap accounts for …

Litecoin has hit what creator Charlie Lee has called two “milestones,” passing $60 and a $3 bln market cap for the first time. Data from Coinmarketcap showed Sunday delivering Litecoin’s best performance in its four-year history based on Chinese and South Korean trade volumes. At press time, its market cap had increased further to $3.2 bln, while cross-exchange prices averaged around $61.50, slightly below the all-time highs reached Sunday. Both Lee and even mainstream media sources were keen on celebrating the success, which comes as Bitcoin follows Litecoin in activating SegWit. Litecoin reached 2 milestones today: $60 and $3B marketcap! …

Bitcoin (BTC) transaction delays and fees are increasingly thought to be the result of Antpool mining empty blocks. Multiple reports surfacing on social media pin the blame for the slow rate of approvals on miners deliberately not including SegWit transactions. So #Bitcoin Mempool is 27 MB deep w/ 44,000 transaction backlog but here is the BIG BLOCK cheerleader @BITMAINtech mining EMPTY BLOCKS pic.twitter.com/qSPyeWy4I0 — Tone Vays [#NO2X] (@ToneVays) August 24, 2017 The practice would cut capacity, increasing waiting times and driving up fees. Data from Blockchain.info on blocks found post-SegWit activation suggests Antpool, the largest Bitcoin mining pool, is circumventing …

Max Keiser has raised his Bitcoin price forecast to $10,000 as the cryptocurrency industry celebrates SegWit activation. Joining figures such as Andreas Antonopoulos and Bobby Lee, Keiser, who is notoriously bullish on Bitcoin, said his “interim” price estimate had doubled from $5000. Lee’s BTCC pool mined the first SegWit block for Bitcoin. #Segwit activated. I'm raising my interim price target for #Bitcoin to $10,000. — Max Keiser (@maxkeiser) August 24, 2017 #segwit activated! Congratulations to all the devs who worked on this bitcoin upgrade! — Andreas (@aantonop) August 24, 2017 We got it! First #SegWit Block, block number #481,824 mined …

CNBC has advised viewers to buy Bitcoin at $3,600, indicating it considers the price a likely floor which will appear short-term. As part of the channel’s Fast Money segment, analyst Brian Kelly predicted Bitcoin price moving in a so-called ABC pattern. Bitcoin had reached a high of $4,478 according to Coinmarketcap, before retracing to around $4,000 and correcting upwards to $4,300. Going forward, Kelly says, a further correction to that witnessed Thursday would see the price ‘bottom out’ at $3,600. “I’m still in [Bitcoin],” he continued, “but I would be looking to add positions at $3,600.” The art of predicting …