By Kevin Helms - October 22, 2017 (news.bitcoin.com)
Seven of Japan’s leading bitcoin exchanges have announced their policies regarding the planned Bitcoin Gold hard fork of the Bitcoin network. The country’s largest exchange, Bitflyer, plans to distribute and trade the new cryptocurrency. Some exchanges will only distribute the coins, while others are taking a wait-and-see approach.
Bitcoin Gold Hard Fork
The Bitcoin Gold hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain is expected to take place at block 491,407, which will likely occur on October 25. A new cryptocurrency, bitcoin gold, is expected to emerge from the fork. Over the past few days, major Japanese bitcoin exchanges have announced their plans regarding this hard fork and how they intend to deal with the new cryptocurrency.
Bitflyer
Japan’s largest bitcoin exchange by volume, Bitflyer, announced on Saturday that its customers will be credited with an amount of bitcoin gold corresponding to the amount of bitcoin in their accounts prior to the split. No suspension of service is scheduled. The exchange wrote:
"If the BTG [Bitcoin Gold] split is deemed by Bitflyer to be permanent and secure in regards to customer assets, on November 1 (tentative), users will be credited with BTG and purchase and sale of BTG will be made available on Bitflyer".
In addition, the exchange detailed “after sufficient observation of the stability in the BTG chain after the split, BTG deposit and withdrawal services will be made available on Bitflyer.”
Coincheck
Coincheck announced its plans for the Bitcoin Gold hard fork on Thursday. “We are planning to provide bitcoin gold if a Bitcoin Gold split occurs,” the exchange wrote. However, Coincheck explained that there are circumstances where it may not be able to provide the new cryptocurrency, including a lack of adequate replay protection, miner hashpower, or protection from other vulnerabilities. In addition, the coins will not be made available if Coincheck decides that the “listing of bitcoin gold is inappropriate.” Currently, no service suspension has been planned. The exchange wrote:
"We are planning to distribute bitcoin gold after we confirmed its security and stability. We haven’t determined the specific date and time yet".
Bitpoint
Bitpoint announced on Friday that “bitcoin gold will be given to customers according to the number of coins [they] held at the time of the split.” However, this can be delayed if the new blockchain is unstable or there is a risk of replay attacks, the exchange conveyed. No service suspension has been planned. Bitpoint added:
"Regarding the withdrawal and deposit services and the buying and selling of the newly generated bitcoin gold, since the security design of the newly formed blockchain has not been sufficiently confirmed, its handling is undecided at this stage".
GMO Coin
GMO Coin announced on Saturday that bitcoin gold will be granted to customers, but the timing has not been decided. In addition, the exchange will temporarily suspend bitcoin deposits and withdrawals around 20:00 on October 25. Furthermore, GMO Coin stated:
"There are no plans to offer services such as buying and selling of bitcoin gold".
Exchanges With No Plans to Distribute
Some exchanges have decided to take a wait-and-see approach.
Zaif
Tech Bureau’s Zaif exchange announced on Friday that “we have decided not to grant [access to] BTG, [including] deposits, withdrawals, and transactions at this time.” However, it added that “when all the possibilities of concerns have been resolved, the handling of BTG will be considered at our discretion just like other currencies.”
Furthermore, Zaif stated that it will neither move the new cryptocurrency nor exchange it for other currencies “for purposes other than storage.”
Fisco
Fisco made a similar announcement on Saturday that “we are not planning to grant, deposit, withdraw, or trade bitcoin gold (BTG) at this time.” In addition, the exchange warned that “there is a possibility of suspending the deposits and withdrawals of bitcoins (BTC) around October 25, 2017, when the split is expected (in that case we will announce again).”
Bitbank
Bitbank announced on Thursday that it will not initially grant bitcoin gold to customers, for several reasons including the incomplete state of Bitcoin Gold’s code. However, the company will take a snapshot of customer assets at the time of the split. The exchange also stated the situation may be “reviewed in the future.”
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Bitcoin Gold, Bitflyer, Coincheck, Bitpoint, GMO, Zaif, Fisco, and Bitbank.
Kevin Helms
A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.
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