Where do They Stand? Bitcoin Exchanges vs BitcoinCash – Chain Split & Segwit

Everything you’ve heard about the Bitcoin scaling debate is true: the entrenched factions, contention, name-calling, compromising, collaboration, and progress. As you gravitate towards Bitcoin’s center you get to know the major players and their stakes: from the financially-cautious miners to the pragmatic protocol developers.

But what about the major exchanges – where do they stand? You may have read through my top bitcoin & cryptocurrency trading sites list and wondered how these market-leaders are preparing for the events to come.

The following page examines each of the leading bitcoin & crytpocurrency exchange’s positions (& contingency plans) with regards to the upcoming July 31 – August 1st potential hard fork and chain split (for Segwit activation).

Beginners: read this intro for more information about the outcomes of a chain split for your stored bitcoin wealth.

How each each exchange will prepare and respond to upcoming hard-fork:

Kraken: Aside from offering the best fees out there, I just love that this exchange always empowers their users. Kraken will proudly be offering coin-splitting and BitcoinCash trading services. Users can do as they please with both chain tokens:

“All Kraken clients holding Bitcoin (XBT) balances at the time of the fork will be credited with an equal amount of Bitcoin Cash (BCH)“

http://blog.kraken.com/post/1150/bitcoin-cash-and-a-critical-alert-for-bitcoin-margin-traders/

Coinbase: No coin-spliting will be offered to users. Very certain and strong reminders have been given to reassure the markets. Coinbase lived through some though times with the Ethereum Classic debacle. Users are receiving multiple updates from Coinbase as the situation evolves:

“Customers who wish to access both bitcoin (BTC) and bitcoin cash (BCC) need to withdraw bitcoin stored on Coinbase”

https://blog.coinbase.com/update-for-customers-with-bitcoin-stored-on-coinbase-99e2d4790a53

Gdax: A very vague contingency plan has been announced by Gdax. Being owned/run by Coinbase I would guess that coin-splitting will not be offered to users – though I could be wrong here. Information has been given that Gdax will not support the BitcoinCash chain – even if it has more hashing power. Thankfully their main objectives & priorities are right-on target:

“We support the growth and scaling of the Bitcoin network, and look forward to working with others in the community to safely handle this event“

https://blog.gdax.com/preparing-for-the-bitcoin-user-activated-soft-fork-86844d7012d0

Poloniex: These guys have the most experience when it comes to chain splits (think ETC & the DAO fiasco). I’ve no doubt that things will be handled with upmost professionalism on Poloniex. Yet it’s interesting to see that the leading cryptocurrency exchange is remaining very neutral on which chain they would potentially support:

“At this time, we cannot commit to supporting any specific blockchain that may emerge if there is a blockchain split“

https://poloniex.com/press-releases/2017.07.24-Our-plans-to-handle-potential-BTC-network-disruptions/

Bitfinex: All accounts will be credited Bitcoin Cash (BCH) equivalents at the time the fork. A very detailed BCH distribution policy has been planned out for margin traders. Bitfinex kindly point out that:

“Although we see [Bitcoin Cash] referred to as BCC on other platforms, unfortunately, that ticker symbol is already in use on our platform by the chain-split token representing Bitcoin Core”

https://www.bitfinex.com/bitcoin_hardfork_statement

Gemini: As usual, no sides are being taken – Gemini will go with whichever coin has the most hashing power. Coin-splitting will be availalbe for users. Though I do find it quite unnerving to read:

“The “BTC” balance and trading activity you see on Gemini will likely reflect the chain with the greater total difficulty. “

https://gemini.com/blog/information-related-to-geminis-policy-on-an-upcoming-chain-split/

Bitstamp: Going very smoothly Europe’s largest bitcoin exchange is choosing to adopt a ‘Coinbase-like’ position with regards to the upcoming chain split and Bitcoin Cash token. Users will have to withdraw prior to July 31, should they want to access BitcoinCash tokens. Though they also hint that:

“If Bitstamp chooses to list BCC, we would decide at our own discretion on what course of action to take with balances deriving from the hard fork“

https://www.bitstamp.net/article/bitcoin-hard-fork-our-position/

Shapeshift: A nice clear approach has been set out whereby their altcoin swapping service invariably will be switched off. Shapeshift remark quite accurately that:

“we have no way of predicting when we will able to provide Bitcoin trading services again“

https://info.shapeshift.io/blog/2017/07/27/important-bitcoin-hard-fork-information

CEX: These guys have been keeping their shit together. I say this because after a massive influx of new users CEX are still providing strong leadership in this space. Users have been reassured that coin-splitting will be provided to all those who have deposited BTC on CEX. Their contingency plan starts off nicely:

“The whole cryptocurrency industry is now preparing for the 1st of August, a crucial date for any Bitcoin holder. This is the date when a Segregated Witness will be triggered, a solution aimed to solve one of the biggest issues of Bitcoin, namely, its scalability.“

https://blog.cex.io/news/important-notice-segregated-witness-possible-chain-split-16390

Bitmex: Good contingencies ready and no acceptance of alternative chains. As the leading margin trading platform, Bitmex nails it when they sa:

“Anyone can create a chain fork of Bitcoin at any time“

https://blog.bitmex.com/policy-on-bitcoin-hard-forks/

Advanced users: I’d recommend listening to Andreas Antonopoulos & Adam Levine’s in-depth discussion on what exactly is Segwit.

I’ll conclude this post with my favorite ‘hard-fork quote’ so far (from the Poloniex Team):

“If you don’t want to leave the decision of which Bitcoin tokens to support (or recognize as valid) to a 3rd party, you should not keep your tokens on any 3rd party platform“

Good luck to all!
July 28, 2017 by BestBitcoinExchange