As many of us already know, August 1st is proving to be an important day for the cryptocurrency world. This is the day that Segregated Witness (or SegWit) will be introduced to the bitcoin network.
Mary-Ann Russon, writing for the International Business Times, explains that the "core developers of bitcoin want to improve the bitcoin network by introducing new technology to the blockchain, which will enable the network to expand and scale more efficiently."
In other words, it'll speed up the network. Why do that? Cause the bitcoin network is currently like this...
She elaborates, "SegWit is a process that enables all blocks on the blockchain to increase their size limits, so that more transactions can be processed within each block. This is achieved by removing signature data from bitcoin transactions, which frees up space so that more transactions can be added."
Some kind of action is necessary because the network is becoming increasingly slower as there are more transactions occurring on it than ever. If things stay the way they are now, eventually the entire network would halt.
So, is there anything we should do in the meantime? Well, they recommend to stop initiating any bitcoin transactions at least a day before the "soft fork", or even better 2 or 3 days. And if you have a hardware wallet, its recommended you send all your bitcoin to it.
With the large market cap dominance that bitcoin has in the cryptocurrency world, I'm eager to see the aftermath of August.
Sources:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/warning-bitcoin-network-disruption-imminent-cryptocurrency-splits-1630247
Photo Sources:
https://coinjournal.net/bitcoins-block-size-controversy-morphing-debate-hard-forks-soft-forks/