SegWit protocol activated

Block 481,824, mined by the BTCC pool on 24 August 2017 (01:57 UTC), was the block after the whole Bitcoin blockchain started using SegWit.

Pieter Wuille, the author of the protocol, marked this event by writing on Twitter: “I’m the proud sender of the 3rd SegWit transaction ever” and posted a proof link.

SegWit will prevent many issues that Bitcoin could face and will open up new opportunities for scalability and innovations. Bitcoin will now store information in its blocks in a different, more optimized way, this will, in turn, optimize the whole network. The transaction flexibility will upgrade too – and this is one of the main issues familiar to all Bitcoin users and cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
“Improved transaction flexibility” means that transactions will become cheaper to users and they will not have to wait for approval for a long time. The whole network capacity will be 75% more efficient.

The creator of Litecoin Charlie Lee noted in his Twitter that with the SegWit protocol activated in the Bitcoin network, the users of Bitcoin will now have a good connection with his currency. A new opportunity to swiftly change BTC to LTC and even pay with LTC even in those terminals where only BTC is allowed. This compatibility means “it’s fusion time”. Here it should be reminded that Litecoin implemented SegWit before Bitcoin did the same today.