Bitmex Exchange and Samourai Wallet Details Plans on How to Handle Upcoming Forks

Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange (Bitmex) and Samourai Wallet (Samourai) have each released details on action plans regarding the expected fork at block height 494,784. This mid-November triggering of Segregated Witness 2 (Segwit2x) is proving to be a battleground for passionate bitcoiners on all sides. Those hostile to the fork are themselves torn between outright refusal and suggestions for future acceptance.  

Also read: Preparing for the Bitcoin Hard Forks: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough

494,784 and Samourai Wallet

Out of London, privacy wallet proponents blasted Segwit2x as “not only a contentious and unneeded change to the current rules of Bitcoin,” The Local Talent Pub’s Samourai Wallet statement strongly began, but it is also “an attempt to seize control of the open source development of Bitcoin by a small group of privileged interests.”

The wallet’s “entire infrastructure relies on Bitcoin Core 0.15 nodes, and [it] will be following the longest block chain that is valid according to our Bitcoin Core 0.15 nodes.”

They go on to accuse Segwit2x’s development team of not adding “an important safeguard known as ‘replay protection,'” the Samourai blog note stressed October 16. Without such a safeguard “any transaction sent on either of the chains may also be sent on the other chain (‘replayed’), leading to the high potential of users losing funds.” 

For its wallet’s users, “an alert will be prominently displayed on the main screen,” the post continued. “The alert will prompt the user to apply replay protection to their [holdings]. We are ironing out the method of replay protection we will offer and will provide more information closer to the event.”

Samourai Wallet “will not be able to access or interact with [Segwit2x] natively in the wallet,” and only when Samourai determines it “safe and reliable to transact” will they “detect any balance” in order to then convert Segwit2x/coin to the original chain/coin.

As of this writing, Samourai did not specify what “safe and reliable” means.

Bitmex Indices Ban Segwit2x Listing

Hong Kong’s bitcoin exchange derivatives platform, focusing on bringing Chinese users to world markets, weighed-in October 15 (updated). Sensing how anyone at any time can create a “chain fork of Bitcoin,” Bitmex set out general guidelines for accepting hard forks.

They “insist” any hard fork include “replay protection, enabled by default,” and ask for a “clean break, such that the new chain cannot be ‘wiped out’ by the original chain.”

Other Bitmex contingencies demand modifications to the “block header, such that all wallets (including light clients) are required to upgrade,” and a “change in address format.” The exchange also wants new peer-to-peer network “magic bytes, to ensure a functioning and reliable node network for the both coins.”

“Proponents of [Segwit2x] hope it becomes known as Bitcoin, however which coin is known as Bitcoin is not up to the proponents,” Bitmex concludes. Only “investors and traders may decide which coin has the highest value.”

However, even if the “Segwit2x chain has the majority hashrate” Bitmex will not distribute the new coin. “If this concerns you, you should withdraw your funds before any given fork and handle the split on your own.”

News.Bitcoin.com suggests bitcoiners exercise prudence and patience with any fork. Custodial or exchange holdings put that business in control of users’ bitcoins. Transacting while consensus works itself out would most likely be unwise.

As much as any other principle surrounding Bitcoin, due diligence and homework win the day.

Images courtesy of: imgur, Bitmex, Samourai.

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