Bitcoin can be divided into two parts

[KirillManhattan]

In the market, there is chaos. Quotations are rapidly declining: ether already costs only about $ 200, bitcoin has fallen in price to $ 2300. A sharp surge in popularity of crypto-currencies led this year to an explosive growth in their value - by hundreds of percent. Interest has shown literally everything: from bankers from Wall Street to Chinese housewives. As it turned out, the system is not ready for such an influx of participants, and now the key topic among the participants of cryptology is the threat of bitcoin crushing, that is, the currency can be divided into two parts.Transaction processing with bitcoins is performed in so-called blocks that use complex cryptography to confirm and conduct transactions. Each block in the chain is limited to 1MB - before that was enough, but today the system began to work too slowly. Sometimes the process can stretch to several hours. Because of this, many companies that provide systems for working with bitcoin, increase the minimum transaction size and charge operations with a commission.The solution of the problem is offered by two camps Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) and Segregated Witness (SegWit). In fact, these are like two different schools with different views, and the interests of some do not coincide with the interests of others. Compromise is difficult to find, this frightens market participants. It's just that no one really knows what will come of it.
July 21 will be presented to the software SegWit2x, then until the end of the month will check how many miners working on the new system. If their share is more than 80%, it signals the avoidance of a split in the community, but if not - the tension will only increase.In this case Bitcoin, most likely, will begin to exist on both block circuits in parallel, which will lead to two versions of the crypto currency. In this situation, there is no doubt that traders will quickly overestimate the value of both, which is likely to lead to high volatility.

[Possum577]

July 21 will be presented to the software SegWit2x, then until the end of the month will check how many miners working on the new system. If their share is more than 80%, it signals the avoidance of a split in the community, but if not - the tension will only increase.In this case Bitcoin, most likely, will begin to exist on both block circuits in parallel, which will lead to two versions of the crypto currency. In this situation, there is no doubt that traders will quickly overestimate the value of both, which is likely to lead to high volatility.

I don't believe this is true, the bolded bit. An 80% or greater adoption of Segwit means that the coin WILL split. 80%+ to the new coin and the remainder hanging on to core. To avoid a split we need less than 80% or 100%.

[patrick.miller]

July 21 will be presented to the software SegWit2x, then until the end of the month will check how many miners working on the new system. If their share is more than 80%, it signals the avoidance of a split in the community, but if not - the tension will only increase.In this case Bitcoin, most likely, will begin to exist on both block circuits in parallel, which will lead to two versions of the crypto currency. In this situation, there is no doubt that traders will quickly overestimate the value of both, which is likely to lead to high volatility.

I don't believe this is true, the bolded bit. An 80% or greater adoption of Segwit means that the coin WILL split. 80%+ to the new coin and the remainder hanging on to core. To avoid a split we need less than 80% or 100%.

It looks like SegWit will activate via BIP91 before BIP148 would go into effect, and thus avoid a chain split. That's the plan.

[Possum577]

It looks like SegWit will activate via BIP91 before BIP148 would go into effect, and thus avoid a chain split. That's the plan.

How can you say that? It's my understanding that a proposal for changes to the blockchain can be made but the nodes need to agree to adopt the changes. If 100% don't adopt the changes but greater than 80% (or so) the result is a split chain. One adopted by many and one adopted by few. It's impossible for you to say "the plan will avoid a chain split", the only way to know what will happen is for a plan to be enacted.

But i'll be clear, I'm a fan of evolving Bitcoin's blockchain to accommodate the growth that we're seeing and have yet to see. Let's just not pretend that the impact of the plans being proposed are simpler or less impactful than they truly are.

[patrick.miller]

It looks like SegWit will activate via BIP91 before BIP148 would go into effect, and thus avoid a chain split. That's the plan.

How can you say that? It's my understanding that a proposal for changes to the blockchain can be made but the nodes need to agree to adopt the changes. If 100% don't adopt the changes but greater than 80% (or so) the result is a split chain. One adopted by many and one adopted by few. It's impossible for you to say "the plan will avoid a chain split", the only way to know what will happen is for a plan to be enacted.

But i'll be clear, I'm a fan of evolving Bitcoin's blockchain to accommodate the growth that we're seeing and have yet to see. Let's just not pretend that the impact of the plans being proposed are simpler or less impactful than they truly are.

BIP91 activates SegWit via a Soft Fork and prevents the first chain split. SegWit soft-fork is backwards compatible with existing nodes.

After that, there would be another possibility for a chain split during the hard-fork. If we get BIP91 activated, then I suspect the success of the SegWit2x working group (btc1) will create enough momentum in the industry to have a successful hard fork 3 months later.

This really is the best path forward, and if we allow the NY agreement to fail, this will create a completely new environment of distrust amongst users and miners.

[gogandmog]

It can, and will likely happen (or so I have heard). It will create two coins of an unpredictable price of each, possibly shooting up to 10,000. Possibly crashing, who the F*** knows? Nobody. My advice is just hold on to your keys and stay still.

[Neoclassical]

In a way...this would actually be a good thing if you are holding the private keys?

I mean, you get both Bitcoin types that way and in long term there will be one clear winner.

So this is not the end of the world imo