UASF (User Activated Soft Fork) to Enable Segregated Signatures
UASF refers to a blockchain fork (soft fork) that can be initiated without the support of the majority of miners who mine cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
Currently, UASF specifically refers to BIP148, which was proposed with the aim of enabling the Segregated Signatures standard.
Under the previously mainstream BIP9, a fork would occur if miners approved the soft fork for at least 95% of the 2,016 blocks prior to the latest block. However, under the BIP148 UASF, instructions will be issued to reject blocks that do not adopt isolated signatures between August 1, 2017, and November 15, 2017.
The intent of UASF is to encourage miners to transition to adopting signatures by ensuring that, during the specified period, blocks containing mining rewards are not rejected by the majority of users—assuming that users utilizing clients implementing BIP148 become the majority.
By prioritizing signatures, the system can filter out users attempting fraudulent transactions or misconduct, thereby enhancing the reliability of cryptocurrencies and ensuring the accuracy and legitimacy of the blockchain, which is a chain of transactions.
