New York Agreement (SegWit2x) Announced at Consensus 2017
At Consensus 2017 industry leaders announce the New York Agreement, pledging to activate SegWit and later implement a 2x block-size increase.
On May 23, 2017 the New York Agreement (NYA) was publicly announced at the Consensus conference in New York City, a landmark moment in the scaling saga. Dozens of companies — including exchanges, wallets, and mining pools — signed a statement agreeing to support a two-phase plan: immediate activation of Segregated Witness (SegWit) to solve transaction malleability and enable capacity improvements, followed by a later coordinated hard fork to increase the block size limit to twice its then-current level.
The NYA was framed by its signatories as a compromise intended to unify industry stakeholders and reduce the risk of a chaotic chain split. For supporters the agreement represented pragmatic leadership by major ecosystem players; for opponents it crystallized fears about centralization of influence, rushed technical changes and opaque decision-making.
The announcement intensified an already heated public debate and triggered months of activism, code work, and contingency planning across the community. It also set in motion a sequence of events — including the eventual cancellation of the 2x hard fork and the emergence of alternative chains like Bitcoin Cash — that would have long-term implications for Bitcoin’s governance, culture and market structure.In short, the NYA’s announcement was both a high-water mark for industry coordination and a flashpoint exposing divergent visions for Bitcoin’s future.