In case you missed it, SegWit2X (SW2) is now going by another name: ShitCoin2X.
The new description was courtesy of cryptocurrency trading platform BitMEX, which recently confirmed that it would not include the SW2 coins in its index. In fact, the platform is urging its users to dump the “ShitCoin2x” immediately after the hard fork in November.
“He who sells first, sells best,” BitMEX said on its website. “On the ex-date (expected to be on or around November 20th), you will receive B2X in a 1:1 ratio. These B2X coins should be immediately sold for USD. At the same time, the futures should trade at a discount or negative basis. The short futures position must covered, and the physical Bitcoin hedge sold as well for USD.”
BitMEX signaled last week that it will not support SegWit2X because the proposal “does not include two way transaction replay protection, enabled by default.”
SegWit2X is the protocol change embedded in the BTC1 software seeking to raise the block size to 2MB in addition to using SegWit to strip digital signature data. The project was initially mediated as the New York Agreement, a compromise between the warring camps of the scaling debate, and the plan was to upgrade the SegWit chain to increase the capacity of the network from ~250,000 transactions per day to ~500,000 transactions per day within six months from May 2017, when the consensus was reached.
However, SegWit2x does not solve Bitcoin’s scaling needs for the long term, which means that the upcoming hard fork offers minimal benefits compared to its risks. The deficiencies in SegWit2x’s protocol would open the Bitcoin blockchain up to several angles of attack—consequences of which will be suffered mainly by users and exchanges through massive losses.
And this is why majority of cryptocurrency exchanges will be unlikely to credit users with SW2 balances.
“Most exchanges that offer margin trading will not force shorts to deliver or cover [SW2]. Forcing a large number of shorts to cover in the illiquid [SW2] spot market could be disastrous. Therefore, most exchanges will not credit Bitcoin lenders with [SW2] or force Bitcoin shorts to deliver [SW2],” according to BitMEX.
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