Bitcoin’s Independence Day: 8 years after the Block Size Wars

Key Points

1. The activation of Segregated Witness (SegWit) in 2017, termed 'Bitcoin Independence Day,' reduced miner influence and addressed scaling debates, leading to the creation of Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

2. The block size wars were a conflict between factions advocating for larger blocks (led by Roger Ver) and those favoring smaller blocks to maintain decentralization.

3. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) split from Bitcoin (BTC) on August 1, 2017, with BCH's price peaking at $1,600 in May 2021 but later dropping to around $90 in 2022, while BTC's price surged by 4,200% over eight years.

4. As of the article's writing, Bitcoin's market cap exceeds $2.2 trillion, while Bitcoin Cash's market cap is around $10.9 billion.

5. The article references Satoshi Nakamoto's white paper on managing node storage costs, underscoring the ongoing debate over Bitcoin's use as a medium of exchange versus a store of value.