On March 19, the bitcoin mining pool Bitclub Network mined its first Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) block as the mining operation is now signaling support for the protocol. 

Also Read: Antpool Points 75% Hashpower at BU, While Exchanges Confirm Listing a Split

Bitclub Chooses Bitcoin Unlimited 

Over the course of the past few weeks, there has been an increase in support towards the BU client from miners. On March 17 the mining pool Antpool had pointed 75 percent of its hashrate towards BU and by the end of the evening close to 90 percent was signaling BU support. Now the mining pool Bitclub is changing the game by mining a BU block when the organization previously mined using the Core client.

The Bitclub Network’s pool currently holds 2.9 percent of the Bitcoin network’s global hashrate. This hashrate plus the added signal from Antpool will likely push the total BU support upwards. Currently, explicit mining pool support by proposal according to Coin Dance data shows BU is currently at 37 percent.

The Reason Behind the Switch

Our sources have been in contact with the Bitclub Network operators, and they informed us of why they decided to switch proposal support. Bitclub says they have had significant issues with unconfirmed transactions. The Bitclub network has a lot of transactions going to and from its membership base, and new members began to have problems getting transactions confirmed.

Two leading members of Bitclub spoke with our sources and explained their frustrations with the current network congestion. The slow network has been a significant inconvenience for Bitclub, and they told to our sources they are making the switch from Core to BU to help with the goal of upgrading the Bitcoin protocol to facilitate more transactions. Moreover, the leaders explained how they have been watching Ethereum trade volumes rising, and they are very concerned about bitcoin going down because of the state of the network.

When It Comes to Scaling Wheels Are in Motion

There seems to be a lot of bitcoin proponents concerned with the current state of protocol development with its rising fees and congestion issues taking place more frequently. Bitcoin businesses like Bitpay and Coinbase are changing their business models because network fees are too high for the companies to cover. Since the issues have become topics bitcoiners can’t avoid any more, node operators, and miners are taking action.

Bitclub and Antpool’s latest support show these two pools have moved past conversations and have decided to use their hashrate as a voice of reason.

What do you think about Bitclub mining their first Bitcoin Unlimited block? Let us know in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Bitclub Network. 

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Tags in this story

Antpool, Bitclub, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Unlimited, BitPay, BU Block, Coinbase, Fee Market, SegWit, Unconfirmed Transactions

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Jamie Redman

Jamie Redman is a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source code, and decentralized applications. Redman has written thousands of articles for news.Bitcoin.com about the disruptive protocols emerging today.