SegWit starts the year with a New High in number of daily transactions in Bitcoin

SegWit transactions on the Bitcoin network started the year reaching an all-time high, accounting for 62% of all network transactions. After its introduction in 2017, SegWit has steadily increased in terms of adoption, showing a dramatic increase in early 2018 and late 2019.

Adoption of (Segregated Witness) has reached an all-time high of 62,1% across the network. According to the Segwit.space platform, the all-time high occurred on January 1. Since then, transactions have fallen slightly to 55,1% at press time.

SegWit plays a key role in integrating the Lightning Network's Layer 2 scaling solution. The upgrade has been at the center of numerous debates about the future of Bitcoin. Despite this, it has largely received support from the community and major stakeholders.

Important exchanges looking for SegWit compatibility

In December 2019, the margin trading platform BitMEX enabled support for SegWit, which contributed to a huge boost in adoption.

Binance, one of the world's most popular exchanges, is also looking to add compatibility, according to CEO Changpeng Zhao , who said so in an AMA last year.

“SegWit is on the roadmap, but it is a lower priority because Bitcoin transactions work right now, especially with the Lightning Network, which has taken the load off the main Bitcoin network. We want to strive to have the safest deposits and withdrawals, so it is not a super high priority for us, we have so much going on. "

While it may not be a top priority for the exchange, adding SegWit would certainly boost adoption at what could be the strongest pace yet. Poloniex, which now counts TRON CEO Justin Sun as an investor, is also expected to add SegWit support in 2020.

For a future of Bitcoin

The SegWit update was introduced in 2017 and increased the size of the blocks, allowing more transactions to be added to the blockchain. At the time of its development and launch, several leading figures discussed how transaction performance could be improved. Roger Ver, who called SegWit a 'disaster', prefers the approach to the token it now supports, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which uses larger blocks.

Regardless, SegWit is seen as a gateway to better performance as development continues on the Lightning Network.