According to @adam3us, Bitcoin should organize how it socializes protocol changes to avoid developer infighting between dogmatic crusaders and strictly technical arguers, underscoring governance as an operational risk for the network; source: Adam Back on X, Oct 12, 2025 https://twitter.com/adam3us/status/1977419936235729077. For traders, governance flashpoints have historically coincided with notable BTC price swings during major upgrades such as SegWit activation in Aug 2017 and Taproot activation in Nov 2021, reinforcing the need to monitor upgrade discourse as a volatility catalyst; sources: SegWit activation confirmation by Bitcoin Core https://bitcoincore.org/en/2017/08/23/segwit-activated/ and BTC-USD historical data https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/BTC-USD/history, Taproot activation parameters by Bitcoin Core https://bitcoincore.org/en/2021/05/01/release-0.21.1/ and BTC-USD historical data https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/BTC-USD/history. Near term, monitor the Bitcoin-Dev mailing list, BIPs on GitHub, and activation dashboards to gauge coordination progress and potential sentiment shifts that can move BTC; sources: Bitcoin-Dev https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/, Bitcoin Improvement Proposals https://github.com/bitcoin/bips, Taproot Watch https://taproot.watch.

According to @BitMEXResearch, it was recognized in 2017 that Bitcoin’s SegWit witness discount could be used to store up to 4MB of non-monetary data per block, reflecting the 4 million weight unit design in BIP-141 (source: @BitMEXResearch; source: BIP-141). This means non-payment data directly competes for blockspace with monetary transactions and can increase fee pressure when demand for witness space rises, affecting the fee market dynamics traders face (source: BIP-141; source: Bitcoin.org Developer Guide). For traders, higher utilization of witness space can lift BTC on-chain transaction fees and extend confirmation times during congestion, impacting the timing and cost of exchange deposits and withdrawals during volatile sessions (source: Bitcoin.org Developer Guide). Miners can see a larger share of revenue from transaction fees when blockspace is scarce, a condition traders should track because elevated fees often coincide with congested mempools and higher settlement costs (source: Bitcoin.org Developer Guide).

According to Dean 利迪恩 (@deanmlittle) on Twitter, the Bitcoin network continues to evolve with key protocol upgrades such as P2SH, SegWit, Taproot, and Lightning. These improvements have drastically enhanced transaction speed, scalability, and privacy, making Bitcoin more attractive for high-frequency trading and large-scale institutional participation. Specifically, P2SH allows for complex transactions, SegWit reduces fees and increases capacity, Taproot boosts privacy and smart contract functionality, and Lightning Network enables near-instant, low-fee payments. Traders are leveraging these advancements to optimize arbitrage strategies and reduce slippage, directly impacting crypto market liquidity and volatility (source: @deanmlittle, May 8, 2025).

According to BitMEX Research, the adoption of Taproot in the cryptocurrency market is noteworthy because it has occurred without specific user incentives, unlike the previous SegWit upgrade. This implies a strong organic growth and acceptance of Taproot among users.

According to BitMEXResearch, a design error in SegWit allows for unbounded arbitrary data storage, which was recognized when SegWit was released in 2017. Although this presents a disadvantage by permitting up to 4MB of arbitrary data storage, it was a known trade-off at the time of its release.

According to BitMEX Research, if they were asked back in 2020, they would have predicted that the adoption of the Taproot upgrade would take many years and proceed more slowly than previous Bitcoin upgrades like P2SH and SegWit. Historically, these upgrades have taken years to gain traction, with P2SH activating in April 2012.

According to BitMEXResearch, SegWit has been highly successful, now representing approximately 97% of all Bitcoin transactions, indicating strong adoption and implementation by Bitcoin Core. Additionally, Taproot is gaining traction with over 100,000 BTC currently stored in Taproot addresses, and this number is rapidly increasing. This reflects growing confidence and usage of these Bitcoin protocol upgrades.

According to BitMEX Research, the notion that hard forks result in large blocks instantly is a myth. They explain that for a hard fork to support larger blocks, users need to upgrade their systems, similar to the SegWit upgrade. The misconception lies in the assumption of an immediate upgrade for a hard fork compared to a slower process.

According to BitMEX Research, while it is possible to choose larger blocks without implementing SegWit, the process is significantly slower. SegWit allows users to independently upgrade their systems, enabling immediate access to increased blockspace without waiting for network-wide upgrades. This can be advantageous for traders looking to optimize transaction speed and efficiency.

According to BitMEX Research, the decision for larger block sizes in the Bitcoin network was driven by the preferences of miners, users, and the market, ultimately leading to the adoption of Segregated Witness (SegWit). This change reflects the community's choice to enhance transaction capacity and efficiency.

According to BitMEX Research, SegWit represents an increase in blocksize, but miners have the autonomy to choose whether or not to produce larger blocks. This autonomy presents a challenge for all blocksize limit increases, including those executed via a hardfork. This insight is crucial for traders as it affects the scalability and potential transaction throughput of the blockchain, impacting transaction fees and miner incentives.

According to BitMEX Research, miners using pre-SegWit nodes face challenges in collecting transaction fees after SegWit activation. To remain competitive and benefit from the economic advantages that SegWit miners enjoy, these miners need to upgrade their nodes. This upgrade allows them to produce blocks larger than 1MB, similar to the adjustments required for a hardfork blocksize increase. This suggests that staying technologically updated is crucial for miners to maximize their profitability in the evolving blockchain environment.