Segmented Witness (SegWit)

A strategy that is implemented to improve the capacity of blocks in the blockchain.

Segmented Witness or SegWit is a strategy that is implemented to improve the capacity of blocks in the blockchain and store transactions. This implementation process is executed by increasing the blockchain’s validation process. Although users initially kicked against this strategy noting that the Bitcoin blockchain might not be able to efficiently handle the growing amount of transactions, it was eventually introduced in 2017.

Currently, SegWit is partly responsible for Bitcoin blockchain’s flexibility. With regards to transactions, the strategy separates a sender’s signature from the rest of the records of the transaction, thereby preventing the receiver from changing the sender’s transaction ID and receiving more than what the sender planned.