Bitcoin’s biggest mining pool, AntPool, has announced it will switch to Bitcoin Unlimited.
AntPool, which controls 15 percent of Bitcoin’s mining capacity, announced the decision in an interview on Friday, quoted by Bloomberg.
“We will switch our entire pool to Bitcoin Unlimited,” its founder Jihan Wu confirmed.
The move signals a revolt among Bitcoin miners weary of the Blockchain’s capacity problems, which are becoming more severe as the backlog grows daily.
SegWit supporters, meanwhile, reacted unfavorably to the news, with former BTC COO Samson Mow tweeting on Friday that the solution was “essentially someone jumping off a train in hopes of getting the train to change it's (sic) direction.”
"BU Activation" is essentially someone jumping off a train in hopes of getting the train to change it's direction. Just does not work. #sad https://t.co/9CBJ6NiwoG
— Samson Mow (@Excellion) March 13, 2017
Until recently, Bitcoin Unlimited was behind SegWit - the alternative capacity solution - but has now taken the lead, according to data from Coin Dance.
If Bitcoin Unlimited wins majority favor, a hard fork would ensue, with both Bloomberg and Wu stating its effect is uncertain.
“We can’t tell how the hard fork will play out. We will only know by the time we get there,” Wu added.
Celebrating, however, was Unlimited’s main evangelist, “Bitcoin Jesus” Roger Ver, who likened SegWit to “going to a barber shop when you have not drunk water for a day and a half.”
“Say you haven’t had any water to drink for a day and a half, and you also need a haircut. Do you drink some water or go to the barber shop? SegWit is like going to the barber shop,” Bloomberg quotes the entrepreneur as saying.