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Controversial Bitcoin Hard Fork SegWit2x is making a low-key comeback this week, its developers say.
The controversial SegWit2x Bitcoin (BTC) hard fork will go ahead on Dec. 28, according to the projectâs official website.
The SegWit2x project, which caused months of debate and infighting among the Bitcoin community prior to its last-minute cancellation in November, now says it will fork off at block 501451, due in around two daysâ time.
The projectâs Founder and Lead Developer, Jaap Terlouw, stated on their site that the fork aims to address issues of âcommission and transaction speed within the Bitcoin network,â adding that currently, Bitcoin is âalmost impossible to use as a means of payment.â
Confirmation that the hard fork will, in fact, take place is indicated both in the roadmap on the projectâs site, as well as in a direct quote from Terlouw:
âOur team will carry out the Bitcoin hard fork, which was planned for mid-November.â
The founder also promised that in addition to the common practice of crediting BTC holders with equivalent balances of the new coin (B2X), they would also receive âa proportional number of Satoshi Nakamotoâs Bitcoins as a reward for their commitment to progress.â
In total, eight exchanges are listed as official supporters of the fork. The projectâs roadmap includes features such as Lightning Network support, smart contracts and, ultimately, anonymous transactions.
Forking season
In the past six weeks, Bitcoin Cash, another Bitcoin hard fork formed in August, has become the central talking point of the industry, as it sees remarkable growth and sparks shifts in mining and investment behavior, affecting Bitcoinâs price.
The latest incarnation of SegWit2x has so far received comparatively little publicity. However, the website copy conspicuously name-dropped one particular exchange, HitBTC. Speaking about existing SegWit2x futures, Terlouw is quoted on the site as saying:
âAt the same time, trading of its [SegWit2x] futures has been carried out on some exchanges for a long time. HitBTC is among them.â
When the project first saw hints of a comeback on Dec. 19, futures prices of B2X coins saw an uptick from under $200 to almost $600, a trend which has remained steady prior to the launch.
Meanwhile, on Christmas Day, a Blockchain Angel Investor debuted his own âversionâ of Bitcoin, Bitcoin God (GOD), while several other forks are due to join the ecosystem in the coming weeks.
For BTC investors, a key appeal of new Bitcoin âversionsâ or hard forks  is the duplication of their BTC holdings in the new coin at the time of each snapshot, which essentially provides them with a supply of âfree money.â
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