As someone who has been out of the bitcoin scene for a while and is just now coming back, is there any other reason besides change in price of BTC making transactions so expensive? Also, what is the popular consensus on proposals such as SegWit? I keep seeing a lot of controversy regarding it.
lack of block space. there isn't enough room to include all transactions, so the fee to get included in quickly goes up. and the number of waiting transactions just grows.
as to segwit... yea, controversy. i don't think there really is a concensus. three sides, as i see it. those who want segwit, those who want bitcoin unlimited, and those who are sick of the debate entirely and want to just get on with something, anything, to solve the problem.
oh, and subgroups of "anything BUT segwit" or "anything but BU!" of course too.
Sorry to sound ignorant, but what exactly is BU? I have only ever heard of segwit when it comes to deciding for the future of bitcoin. What would make either side "win out" or be implemented over the other, assuming we eventually get to that point? Does it require a majority of miners or nodes to move forward with one option or such? Who would implement these proposals into the core?