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Aug 24, 2017 SegWit activates
On August 24, 2017, Segregated Witness (SegWit) activated, the biggest change to Bitcoin’s rules since launch.
- Date
- Aug 24, 2017
- Block
- 481,824
- Type
- Soft fork
What happened
SegWit fixed a long-standing bug called transaction malleability and changed how transaction data is counted, which made room for more transactions in each block. It also made the Lightning Network practical to build.
Activation came after a long and heated debate about how Bitcoin should scale. It was one of the few times the network’s users, miners and developers had to coordinate a major change.
Why it mattered
SegWit shows how slowly and deliberately Bitcoin changes. More in Bitcoin in 2017 and the glossary.
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