[2016-10-18] Bitcoin Scaling Solution SegWit Gets Possible Release Date

[foserfox]

The code for a long-in-development bitcoin scaling solution could be ready for activation as soon as 15th November.

The new software – version 0.13.1 – will include more code for Segregated Witness (SegWit), enabling users (and, perhaps most notably, miners) to begin the upgrade process. The launch will kick off a process by which the extended stakeholders in the distributed network will be asked to signal whether they support SegWit.

The news comes from an update on a mailing list for developers working on bitcoin's primary software, Bitcoin Core. There, developer Pieter Wuille posted new details this weekend about the planned rollout of SegWit. A release candidate for 0.13.1 has since been published.

The pending launch follows months of testing by developers. SegWit's code, for example, was first released for testing over the summer, but the new version would bring that code into production.

The November release date doesn't mean bitcoin's capacity issues will be instantly resolved, however.

http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-scaling-solution-segwit-gets-possible-release-date/

[Carlton Banks]

Release Candidate 1 for 0.13.1 was released last night. I think it's 2016 blocks minimum for which 95% of stakeholders must signal their acceptance of the soft-fork before it can be triggered for activation. The activation itself only then happens yet another 2016 blocks subsequent to when the threshold was reached.

So, with November 15th to start the validity period, we could be using Segwit as early as mid-December