In less than ten days, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) will be experiencing a new hard fork on its network. The upgrade is scheduled to take place on November 15. Regarding this announcement, Poloniex, crypto exchange operated by Goldman Sachs-backed startup Circle, has revealed its plans to support both Bitcoin Cash chains: Bitcoin SV and Bitcoin ABC.
We will support the upcoming Bitcoin Cash hard fork. On November 15, 2018, we will pause deposits and withdrawals at 14:00 UTC, and take a snapshot of all BCH balances at 15:00 UTC. Once the network stabilizes, we will make an announcement and re-enable deposits and withdrawals.
— Poloniex Exchange (@Poloniex) November 4, 2018
Poloniex stated:
“We’re doing this to empower customers to demonstrate their support for one coin over the other through trading activity. Poloniex will also support trading markets for both tokens after the hard fork.”
On the threshold of the upcoming hard fork, Poloniex has opened pre-fork trading of Bitcoin SV and Bitcoin ABC, which makes it the first company to offer trading pairs for a crypto asset prior to a possible fork.
1/ NEWS: Ahead of the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) hard fork, we are opening pre-fork trading of the two planned protocol upgrades, Bitcoin Cash ABC and Bitcoin Cash SV. Learn more here: https://t.co/KitP8N4tCf pic.twitter.com/RcDBke6DLP
— Poloniex Exchange (@Poloniex) November 8, 2018
Pre-fork trading has been made available for USDC/BCHSV and USDC/BCHABC as well as bitcoin trading pairs. Customers can convert their BCH into an equivalent amount of BCHABC and BCHSV and vice versa, but they are not able to withdraw BCHABC and BCHSV before the fork.
Poloniex has also promised to remain neutral during the fork with a view to let the community decide which blockchain will be supported.
Other Crypto Companies to Prepare for Upcoming Bitcoin Cash Hard Fork
In the run-up to the upcoming hard fork, top platforms supporting Bitcoin Cash have come up with their own plans to help customers and users deal with the upcoming hard fork in the best way.
Coinbase and Binance have officially announced extending the support for Bitcoin Cash hard fork. OKEx has already announced the support of traditional Bitcoin ABC OS, in contrast to Poloniex which will support both tokens.
According to Coinbase, the platform will be pausing BCH transactions before the hard fork, which means that funds of their customers will be safe during the planned event. Coinbase said:
“We will monitor the Bitcoin Cash network during the upgrade. Coinbase cannot predict the duration of this upgrade process. When the upgrade is complete we will evaluate the network and take appropriate next step, including re-enabling sends and receives.”
The company added:
“In the unlikely event that multiple viable chains persist after the fork, Coinbase will ensure that customers have access to their funds on each chain.”
Ledger, popular hardware wallet, will be pausing Bitcoin Cash transactions during the next hard fork. According to the company, if the fork results in separate bitcoin cash chains, one of them will be the dominant chain, and Ledger will then decide which one to support.
Another company Centbee has decided to support the Bitcoin SV proposal after the fork. Trezor, the hardware wallet company, will go on supporting Bitcoin ABC.
While bitcoin cash withdrawals and deposits are suspended, users should take care not to deposit BCH before the hard fork to make sure their funds are safe.
