Blockchain , FinTech , Innovation , Investing , News | November 14, 2018 By: Bruce Haring
It’s almost time for the big split.
Tomorrow, Bitcoin Cash enters into a hard fork, and the fourth-largest cryptocurrency will split into two separate coins, Bitcoin ABC (the original Bitcoin Cash) and Bitcoin SV (for Satoshi’s Vision).
The division will create two blockchains, and miners will get to work and largely determine which of the two chains will be most successful and win the hashing power and allegiance of the market.
The hard fork is largely the result of a disagreement between cryptocurrency gurus Roger Ver and Craig Wright. The two have argued over the direction of Bitcoin Cash, with Ver advocating for an upgrade in its capabilities, while Wright backing a version that would raise the block size 128MB from its current 32MB.
It echoes the arguments that raged when Bitcoin Cash was originally created out of a split in the bitcoin camps.
For hodlers, the split means that they will essentially get free money, as major exchanges like Coinbase and Binance promise to give holders of Bitcoin Cash the new currency on a 1:1 basis after the fork. The Poloniex exchange has even allowed for pre-trading in the new coin.
Bitcoin Cash has enjoyed a considerable run-up in price in anticpation of the fork, although today’s prices have taken a dive. Coinbase indicated that it will pause all buys, sells, and trading of BCH starting at 8:00AM PST on Thursday on Coinbase.com, in the iOS and Android apps, and on Coinbase Pro and Prime. Customers will not be able to sell or remove your BCH from Coinbase.
No timeframe for restoration was given. Ricky Li, Co Founder of Altonomy:
“For our trading activities, the hard fork recently has generated tremendous interest and trading volume, above $4 billion daily, among traders. We expect price discovery on Poloniex pre-fork trading to be a major indicator to identify a winner and loser of the BCH fork.”
Tanooj Luthra, CTO of scaling protocol Elph and former Coinbase engineer on the original Bitcoin Cash team at Coinbase.
“Bitcoin ABC is the better approach. It better sets up Bitcoin Cash as a more usable currency by unlocking more future development.
On chain scaling of Bitcoin Cash requires much more than just increasing the block size limit, and Bitcoin ABC is doubling down on creating a more scalable node by removing a lot of the technical limitations that will pay off in the future. Furthermore, there’s also no reason that ABC can’t increase it’s block size in the future up to 128 MB like Bitcoin SV thinks is required now.
“ Bitcoin ABC is even more appealing when you take a look at the last year’s worth of blocks and see that the vast majority were well under the current limit of 32 MB anyways.
” Nick Cowan, CEO of the Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange (GBX) : “The upcoming hard fork for BCH, set to take place on 15th November represents a major development in the fast-evolving crypto landscape. Hard forks, by their very nature, tend to divide a community of users who are deeply invested in the journey of a cryptocurrency. It is vital that holders of BCH within the crypto sphere are adequately prepared and fully understand the intricacies of such developments.
Hard forks like these typically involve a significant change in the underlying blockchain protocol, resulting in the creation of a new chain and token. The upcoming software upgrade will see a split in the protocol and the creation of a new BSV coin for this forked new network. Following the fork, BCH holders will end up with both BCH and BSV. The complexity of this move cannot be understated, but it gives great expression to the principles of transparency, efficiency, and fairness that characterize this wider blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem. This is the democracy of blockchain at work.” Frank Wagner, Co-Founder and CEO of INVAO : “The upcoming hard fork in Bitcoin Cash, on the 15th November, will likely lead to many changes in the crypto market as a whole. It is, however, difficult to speculate on the exact effect this will have on the price of Bitcoin Cash or indeed of any other cryptocurrency. In the coming weeks and months, it will be important to see which exchanges decide to list the two new currencies that will be created from this fork, as the possibility of being traded will be crucial for both cryptocurrencies.
As this develops, features and adoptability will become clearer, allowing for users to make informed decisions on how to invest. We recommend that any investors who have concerns about the new technological advancement seek guidance in their investing activity from seasoned professionals.” Craig Mc Gregor, Co-Founder and CEO of DSTOQ : “I expect that the hard fork is a positive sign of growth and evolution of the industry.
Hard forks often draw increased attention from new investors and fuel open discussions of works and what does not.
The role of cryptocurrency exchanges will be to disseminate and present facts in an objective way to all investors, and to ease concerns as they arise. Until the full impact of the fork reveals itself, we anticipate that both versions of Bitcoin Cash will continue to be supported by the community.” Casey Kuhlman, CEO of Monax: “The recent news on the upcoming Bitcoin Cash hard fork represents an exciting step for the crypto industry. I believe that this development will garner more interest in the industry as a whole – which is always a good thing – and as such will ultimately lead to more professional services companies embracing the democratizing power of blockchain technology.
Every new development leads to new opportunities and I’m excited to see what the future holds for the crypto space.” Search for:.
