In a recent Twitter conversation, the US’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and wallet platform, Coinbase, has revealed that it is working on the integration of the Segwit on the network. Though it did not provide any details, Coinbase assured that it will release a public update soon.
The conversation started when Coinbase revealed its plan to expand the customer support of the platform. It currently has more than 10 million users, making it the largest brokerage and Bitcoin wallet platform.
Segwit is widely accepted by the Bitcoin community. Many leading wallets including Tezor and Ledger adopted the update in the first week of its launch.
What is SegWit?
Segregated Witness or SegWit was introduced to make the Bitcoin Blockchain more efficient. The aim was to increase the block size limit by removing the signature data from the transactions. The transaction malleability of the SegWit update also added security improvements for the wallets as it reduces transaction verification time and process.
After the integration of the SegWit support, Bitcoin hardware wallet leader, Ledger, stated: “Segwit, the long-awaited pack of optimizations to scale Bitcoin has been activated on August 24th. This article explains how can you use Segwit benefits with Ledger’s hardware wallet product."
It added: “When computing a Segwit signature, the previous transactions do not need to be processed by the device, and each input is only processed once during the signature process, leading up to a 60% time optimization in the signature process.”
Mentioning the efficiency of the transaction, Ledger stated: “Segwit introduces the concept of block weight which changes the way the transaction size is computed by splitting the signatures in a different area — you can typically save 35% of the fee paid when sending a transaction immediately.”
Segwit's functions can be enjoyed by wallet users if their wallet's platform supports Segwit or if they receive a Segwit-enabled transaction.
Currently, only 14 percent of Bitcoin transactions are supported by SegWit. But as more and more wallets are integrating the support on their platform this number will rise soon.
