2x Called Off: Bitcoin Hard Fork Suspended for Lack of Consensus (coindesk.com)
Alyssa Hertig, writing for CoinDesk: The organizers of a controversial bitcoin scaling proposal are suspending an attempt to increase the block size by way of a software upgrade. Known for its strong early support from bitcoin startups and mining pools, the plan, called Segwit2x, or simply 2x, was to trigger a block size increase at block 494784, expected to occur on or around November 16th. The suspension was announced today in an email, written by Mike Belshe, CEO and co-founder of bitcoin wallet software provider BitGo. One of the leaders of the Segwit2x project, he argued that the scaling proposal is too controversial to move forward. He wrote: "Unfortunately, it is clear that we have not built sufficient consensus for
a clean block size upgrade at this time. Continuing on the current path could divide the community and be a setback to Bitcoin's growth. This was never the goal of Segwit2x."
Nodes that supported the fork were actually being actively blocked by other nodes. I don't know if that had any effect in his announcement, but it might have affected his ability to even mine.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
No. Currency markets are tightly regulated; such behavior would surely result in charges being sought and probably jailtime. Basically trying to manipulate markets is highly illegal and usually results in a very large slap on the wrist, such that it's not worth it.
I would have voted for a proposal to incorporate 2xSAI as well, but hq3x has long been the best option available. Does anyone even know how Segwit2x works?
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