Bisq Decentralized Exchange Drops Bitcoin Cash, Denounces Hash War Mike Dalton | Last Updated December 14, 2018 | First Posted December 14, 2018
Bisq, a major decentralized exchange, has announced that it is dropping support for Bitcoin Cash (BCH) as part of its latest update. Unlike some decentralized exchanges, which often trade minor tokens, Bisq has always focused on supporting leading coins. Now, one major cryptocurrency will no longer be available to users. Bisq v0.
9.1 is out now!
It’s a bit of a mixed bag…you can now run Bisq in testnet mode directly from the GUI (just toggle the option in Settings), but you can no longer trade BCH.
So it goes 😁
— Bisq (@bisq_network) December 13, 2018
The removal is a direct result of the recent Bitcoin Cash hard fork , which left the coin’s mining community divided. Many leading exchanges temporarily delisted Bitcoin Cash during the fork, but quickly restored the coin once a dominant faction (Bitcoin ABC) emerged. The fork has concluded, and Bitcoin Cash is now offered on most exchanges once again — although it is trading at a much lower price than it once was.
Bisq, however, does not see eye-to-eye with those major exchanges , and it relies on community opinion to decide which coins are included on the exchange. Last week, Bisq Founder Manfred Karrer began a thread in which he expressed contempt for Bitcoin SV, a Bitcoin Cash faction that has filed lawsuits against the dominant faction, Bitcoin ABC. Karrer wrote :
“Those lunatics from the BCH [SV] camp are starting to [sue] exchanges who listed BCH (Kraken).
I think now the time has come to cut any connection with those scammers. If you support that proposal please add a thumbs up.”
Karrer also criticized the hash war, in which each faction is attempting to mine more blocks than the other in order to gain control of the Bitcoin Cash blockchain:
“BCH has created so much damage and their hash-war is probably the main reason for the current price crash in BTC.
So that all sums up more then enough reason to not support anything related to BCH in any way.”
Within a day, the removal had received overwhelming support, with 44 upvotes and zero downvotes. Many users stated concern about the possibility of a 51% attack on Bitcoin Cash and the coin’s declining value. Others expressed distrust in market cap rankings, which allegedly make Bitcoin Cash appear to be more significant than it actually is.
Nevertheless, there was tempered support for Bitcoin Cash.
One Bisq user argued that it is “bold to remove a top 5 cap currency” from the exchange.
Another claimed that it is “not a good idea to take sides” in general. However, these responses did not persuade the community to continue its support for the coin.
Suggested Reading : Learn about our picks for the best Bitcoin Cash wallets.
It should be noted that Bisq has doubled back on related decisions in the past.
When Bitcoin Cash was first released in August 2017, Karrer and the Bisq community stated that they would not include the coin in the exchange. Bisq nevertheless added support for the coin a few months later .
Whether Bisq’s decision to remove Bitcoin Cash will last permanently remains to be seen. Although the discussion was heated, the decision was made quite hastily. It is possible that an effort to reintroduce Bitcoin Cash to Bisq will take place, or that a forked version of Bisq that supports the coin will be created.
In any case, the Bisq proceedings are certainly part of a larger division that has formed in the crypto community. The conflict shows no signs of dying down any time soon, and whether Bitcoin Cash will be able to maintain its high-ranking position in the aftermath of the fork is still uncertain.
.
