November 15th is quickly approaching and the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) community has yet to come to a consensus as to what upgrade shall be implemented uniformly across the network. The lack of consensus and open differences between the two camps supporting different upgrades is self evident and the only solution for this is a hard fork.
The two camps with different upgrade proposals are Bitcoin ABC and nChain. Both camps have released their individual versions of the upgrade that is to come on the 15th of November. There is also the relatively unknown Cobra Client proposed by the anonymous owner of Bitcoin.org. The latter proposal is a compromise of the two suggestions and is a safe and reliable implementation of the scheduled November hard fork.
Ledger to Suspend Support Till After the Hard Fork
It is with this background that the team at the popular hardware wallet of Ledger Nano S, have notified the crypto community that they will be suspending support for BCH until there is clarity as to which fork comes out dominant after November 15th. The team cites that the main reason for suspending support, is to avoid unwanted transactions during that time period. Such transactions could result in ‘replay attacks’, loss of funds and other issues with the Bitcoin Cash protocol.
The exact time frame as to when the team will suspend support has not be given, but the assumption is that they will do so before the time of the Hard Fork: 15th of November around 4:40 PM GMT (epoch 1542300000).
Therefore, the team advises anyone who wants to use their BCH during the hard-fork period, to move their funds to another wallet.
Should you need or wish to continue having access to your Bitcoin Cash, we would recommend moving your Bitcoin Cash to a different wallet or exchange platform that will continue supporting it during this time.
Please do note that by doing so, you would be accepting the responsibility of any outcome that follows. It is equally possible that third party wallets that already support Ledger devices may provide independent solutions as well.
You Can Opt To Still Keep Your Funds in the Wallet, But You Cannot Use Your BCH
The team also advises that users have the option of keeping their BCH safe in the hardware wallet till after the hard fork has provided clarity in the matter. During the time period, owners of BCH stored in the hardware wallet, will not be able to access their funds.
The team goes on to explain:
If you do not intend to perform transactions with your Bitcoin Cash assets during this service interruption, no further action will be required. This means that you will not be able to use your Bitcoin Cash account during the service suspension.
You will be able to monitor when Bitcoin Cash will be back online on our status page. Equally, we will keep our users updated through our Twitter and Facebook accounts. Once service returns, you will be able to access your Bitcoin Cash again.
In conclusion, with the Bitcoin Cash hard-fork only days away, the team at Ledger have announced that they will suspend supporting the digital asset until there is some clarity on the outcome of the event. Those who want to use their BCH during that time period are advised to move their funds to another wallet or exchange. The second option is to do nothing and wait for the outcome of the hard-fork with your funds ‘frozen’ in the wallet. The second option is recommended only for those who do not wish to use their BCH funds during that time period.
What are your thoughts on the pending BCH hard-fork? Please let us know in the comment section below.
