Bitcoin BCH protocol upgrade: Which groups offer ‘neutral’ choice?

At around 4:40 p.m. UTC on November 15, the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network will undergo its scheduled protocol upgrade. Unlike last May, this upgrade involves two technical proposals—Bitcoin SV (Satoshi Vision) and Bitcoin ABC.

Bitcoin SV, a new full node implementation for Bitcoin BCH, is designed to specifically advance the Satoshi Vision of Bitcoin’s original protocol, with a plan for faster scaling to bigger blocks on BCH. Bitcoin SV will raise the maximum default block size from its current 32MB to 128MB—another step toward massive on-chain scaling—in addition to re-enabling of the original “Satoshi” set of op_codes, particularly OP_MUL, OP_LSHIFT, OP_RSHIFT, and OP_INVERT.

The goal of Bitcoin SV is to give BCH miners another choice—one that competes with other existing BCH implementations like Bitcoin ABC, which is pushing for a canonical transaction ordering rule (CTOR) that is not only risky to implement, but is also unproven in providing its claimed benefits.

The recent preview for the stress test scheduled for November 17 has already validated the growing hash support for Bitcoin SV, which is the first BCH implementation to cross over 50% estimated hash support since Coin Dance began reporting such data in advance of the November 15 protocol upgrade. As of press time, Bitcoin SV is already seeing a huge jump in estimated hash rate—about 72-75% compared with Bitcoin ABC’s 16-27%, according to data from Coin Dance.

It’s worth noting, however, that blockchain research and development firm nChain is not seeking a Bitcoin variant with Bitcoin SV, it’s simply providing another choice for BCH miners. Still, this hasn’t stopped groups from taking a side. Here at CoinGeek, we are highlighting the platforms that have opted for a neutral stance, offering their users the chance to put their money where they believe Bitcoin BCH is headed.

Poloniex leads the pack

Poloniex is one of the earliest exchanges to offer pre-fork trading for BCH mined with Bitcoin SV (BCHSV), as well as that using Bitcoin ABC (BCHABC) implementation.

In a statement, the Circle-owned exchange said, “We believe the responsible thing to do in this case is remain neutral and allow the community to decide which chain to support, and we want to empower the community to demonstrate their support through trading activity.

Following in the footsteps of Poloniex is Bitfinex, which assured users that it will complete a full account snapshot of Bitcoin Cash balances at 4:40 p.m. UTC. Deposits and withdrawals of BCH on the platform will be suspended effective 3:30 p.m. UTC.

“Bitfinex will not advocate for or against any particular fork, and miners have full prerogative to commit their hashing power to whichever projects they choose. At the time of writing, we do not believe that there is sufficient consensus to identify a clear winner in the Bitcoin Cash hard fork,” the exchange wrote in a blog post.

Crypto Facilities also suspended deposits and withdrawals of BCH as of 10 a.m. UTC “for an extended period of time to avoid any adverse impact of network instability on BCH deposits and transfers.”

The platform said BCH transfers will resume once Crypto Facilities has determined “…at our sole discretion, that network stability is satisfactory and a clear consensus has emerged for BCH. If you would like to control how you handle the upgrade, the best option is for you to withdrawal your BCH so you are in control of your private keys.”

In a bid “to protect customer funds,” Coins.ph, the crypto wallet service operating in the Philippines, will also suspend sending, receiving, and conversion functionality on the Coins.ph BCH Wallet two hours before the protocol upgrade. It will also halt all BCH trading on Coins Pro (BCH-PHP and BCH-BTC markets) and will cancel any open BCH-related orders. Service will be reinstated on the Coins.ph BCH Wallet and Coins Pro platforms once “the protocol upgrade is in a stable state.”

According to Coins.ph, “At the moment of the fork, the Coins team will save a record of customer BCH balances. In the event that the minority fork produces tokens that are deemed to have long-term viability, Coins.ph would consider whether or not it would be feasible to return these funds to customers, as we have done with certain forks in the past. The viability of any tokens resulting from minority BCH proposals during this fork will be assessed based on its broader industry support, hash power, and value.

Meanwhile, Asia-facing cryptocurrency exchange BitAsiaEx has opened trading pairs for BCHSV as well as BCHABC. Starting November 12, users of the platform can trade BCHSV or BCHABC against BTC, CNY, and BCH, or they can also convert 1 BCH to 1 BCH (SV) + 1 BCH (ABC) for trading.

HitBTC will also support pre-fork trading of BCHSV and BCHABC. On its website, the platform noted, “Starting from November 15, 15:00 UTC, an hour before the fork, all BCH deposits will be automatically converted to BCHABC + BCHSV in 1 to 1+1 ratio.” Withdrawals for BCH will be stopped at 15:30 UTC, followed by separate deposits enabled for BCHSV and BCHABC. Withdrawals for the two coins will be enabled after the network is stabilized.

Bittrex, meanwhile, assures its users that it “will take all reasonable steps to ensure that customer funds can be preserved on both chains.” The platform has already suspended withdrawals and deposits of Bitcoin BCH on November 14, and the wallet will remain closed “until the hard fork block is complete and it is deemed safe to open.”

Other platforms that have suspended deposits, withdrawals, and trading ahead of the BCH protocol upgrade include CoinBene, ZB.com, Bibox, Ledger, and Jaxx. On its website, Jaxx announced it will “support the chain that has the most hash power following the fork,” noting that “at this time, we do not plan to support any of the additional chains.”

Follow the Bitcoin Way

After the protocol upgrade, Bitcoin BCH with Bitcoin SV will finally come of age—no longer a dev experiment, but a mining-backed project. If you’re interested in seeing the true original power of Bitcoin, we recommend you to join the bComm Association and to also come to the CoinGeek Week conference from November 28-30 (with a special advance Miner’s Day on November 27), the perfect venue to meet the thought leaders and discuss the implications of the worlds first Bitcoin Hash War fought according to Nakamoto Consensus. Be part of the community that wants to let the original Bitcoin show the world its true power as sound money and so much more.

Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.

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‘Skin in the game’: BitAsiaEx opens pre-fork trading ahead of BCH protocol upgrade

Asia-facing cryptocurrency exchange BitAsiaEx is giving its users the opportunity to have their skin in the hash game ahead of the scheduled Bitcoin Cash (BCH) protocol upgrade on November 15.

On Monday, the Chinese crypto exchange officially opened the trading pairs for BCH mined with the Bitcoin SV (Satoshi Vision) implementation, as well as that mined via the Bitcoin ABC node. BitAsiaEx currently offers BCH (SV) or BCH (ABC) trading against BTC, CNY, and BCH; users can also convert 1 BCH to 1 BCH (SV) + 1 BCH (ABC) for trading.

Founded in early 2018, BitAsiaEx is a BCH-friendly crypto-to-fiat exchange targeting crypto users in Asia. It’s also the first crypto exchange in the world to adopt 0-confirmation BCH transactions with “no problem at all,” although BitAsiaEx has opted to suspend that feature ahead of the protocol upgrade.

In an interview with CoinGeek, BitAsiaEx CEO Jeff Tang explained that similar to the “miners choice” philosophy, the rest of the Bitcoin BCH ecosystem—including those that don’t have hash power—should also be given the opportunity to support the path they believe the cryptocurrency is headed.

“We all agree that protocol is Miner’s Choice—one CPU, one vote if there is any agreement. What about the others in the community who don’t have hash [but] want to participate in the competition?” Tang said. “I think using hard, solid money to support their own belief or choice is “real choice,” or serious choice, as it is the skin in the game. That’s the only way we can let everyone think carefully and take it seriously in the long run, rather than in short-term speculation.”

BitAsiaEx’s move followed in the footsteps of Poloniex, which announced last week that it would offer pre-fork trading based on the assumption that the protocol upgrade would end up in a hard fork and create two tokens. It’s worth noting, however, that nChain—the blockchain research and development firm behind Bitcoin SV—is not seeking to create a new Bitcoin variant with the full node implementation.

The goal of Bitcoin SV, designed specifically to support the Satoshi Vision of Bitcoin, is to give BCH miners another choice—one that competes with other existing BCH implementations like Bitcoin ABC, which is pushing for a canonical transaction ordering rule (CTOR) that is not only risky to implement, but is also unproven in providing its claimed benefits.

As it is right now, Bitcoin ABC has the first mover’s advantage with the majority of nodes. BitAsiaEx, however, stressed that it’s not about the number of nodes, but the amount of hash.

“As an exchange, we tested all nodes, and we will test our BCH deposit method internally during hash war,” Tang said, noting that the hash competition can be take place between a few days and a few months. “I personally hardly believe that could last more than three months.”

The BitAsiaEx executive added, “The longest chain here we refer to most of chain work since 1st August 2017. BCH name should be granted to the one which has the most of chain work, the exchange should only look at the chain work since BCH is Proof of Work (PoW)… We are excited to see so many token proposals in BCH and we believe that is the future.”

When it comes to winning tokenization solutions on the BCH network, BitAsiaEx doesn’t have to look any further. Tokenized, the winner of the CoinGeek’s £5 million challenge to put tokenization on the BCH chain, has just released its white paper for public preview. CoinGeek is keeping its tokenization contest open with a secondary award of £1 million available. For more details, visit CoinGeek.com’s contest page.

To learn more about the Tokenized solution, come to the CoinGeek Week Conference in London on November 28-30, with a special invitation-only event for Bitcoin BCH miners and representatives taking place on November 27. CoinGeek Week Conference is the must-attend event of the fall season, where you can discuss the implications of the world’s first Bitcoin Hash War fought according to Nakamoto Consensus with the most influential thought leaders in the industry. Tickets to the CoinGeek Week Conference are on sale now.

Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.

The post ‘Skin in the game’: BitAsiaEx opens pre-fork trading ahead of BCH protocol upgrade appeared first on Coingeek.

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