Separate Witness (SegWit) is special.

And this is not just because the bitcoin code change is focused on scaling the network (that's the case), or that it opens up the way to a new layer potentially faster and less expensive.

Finally activated last August after months of controversy, SegWit now encourages developers to create a more "structured" version of the software, an unusual development for the oldest cryptocurrency network team and the most valuable of the world. ]

Most of the time, when Bitcoin Core introduces new changes in cryptocurrency code, the group of volunteer developers simply combines disparate optimizations. But this upcoming code version, 0.16.0, the sixteenth "major release" since the beginning of bitcoin, is a bit different.

Updates will be articulated around SegWit. Most optimizations will focus on sending SegWit style transactions from the software's default wallet.

Thus, while the first deployment of SegWit was to ensure that the network understood the new rules, 0.16.0 is to allow the sending and receiving of transactions that can take advantage of their benefits .

Andrew Chow, Bitcoin Core Contributor, told CoinDesk:

"The main change is the addition of SegWit in the wallet, which allows users to easily create SegWit addresses."

SegWit galore

Toward this goal, Chow explained that the SegWit features were added to both the command line and the portfolio's UI, allowing programmers and non-programmers programmers to use it.

Marco Falke, engineer at Chaincode Lab and collaborator at Bitcoin Core, noted that while it was possible to create SegWit addresses in earlier portfolio versions, the process was rather "hacky" and "mostly hidden" .

Now, with the software version, the SegWit addresses will be the default addresses, which means that the new addresses are automatically compatible with the scaling function.

Version 0.16.0 is also the first version to support "native SegWit addresses", also known as bech32, a new address format developed by Pieter Wuille and Greg Maxwell, Bitcoin Core contributors . SegWit automatically.

According to Falke, "It's the most exciting part of the release."

Since SegWit addresses are created automatically, portfolio users should soon benefit from lower fees. And progress could have broader implications.

Bitcoin Core introduced SegWit for the first time in November 2016 and the ensuing battle prompted some software users to support competing cryptocurrency who completely eliminated it. (Called bitcoin cash, network supporters have long argued that larger blocks, in which more space is allocated for transactions, is the key to reducing costs.)

And according to Chow, a benefit of the native SegWit address format is that the fees are a bit lower, although he acknowledges that the format being so new, most portfolios do not support it currently (that's why the default Bitcoin Core wallet, P2SH SegWit addresses for the moment).

Chow said that other pieces of the release give users more flexibility on their Core Bitcoin wallet. For example, users can store their wallets or private keys in another data directory if they wish.

For more techies, see the release notes for more details.

Long time to come

Withdrawing, the publication could also help with the sometimes troubled messages of SegWit, because its adoption was perhaps slower than expected by the defenders.

Indeed, although updating the code of a global software is not necessarily a fast process, users have complained because even some major companies have not yet adopted it.

With this context of anticipating the user and impatience in mind, many might be surprised that Bitcoin Core is so long to add support in its portfolio for the type transaction. But the developers argue that there are several reasons for this delay.

First, the team said that she wanted to see how SegWit actually worked on the network for a while before supporting it, in case there were security breaches or other problems, said Chow. Secondly, politics was also a distraction.

While the software version prior to this one, 0.15.1, was supposed to strengthen SegWit's support, the developers claim that a planned alternative bitcoin software launch, scheduled for November 2016, is to blame for delay the focus.

"It took several weeks and prevented us from working on the SegWit portfolio for those few weeks," said Chow.

Binary code image via Shutterstock

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