Hard fork policy (2017 Aug 1)

There is an upcoming hard fork of bitcoin on the 1st of August 12:30pm UTC. Though anyone can create a fork of bitcoin and launch their own version, the Bitcoin Cash fork has gained traction from supporters of larger blocks and the opposition of Segwit alike. Some exchanges signalled support for trading the new coin and some wallets promised support for it also. The fork may have a ripple effect producing unexpected results, therefore we need to take some action and clarify our position on this.

BitBargain’s policy has always been to support the bitcoin with the best devs, the most hashing power, the longest chain and the largest support by exchanges and wallets. Therefore so far we have always stuck to the reference client (Bitcoin Core).

We believe that bitcoin’s value doesn’t come from the devs, the miners or the userbase alone, but the consensus between these parties. It is unfortunate that the current state of affairs is threatening to split the consensus bringing on confusion and uncertainty about which implementation to support. In these uncertain times we will continue to use the reference client until there is clear and strong indication that userbase, hasing power and devs have moved towards a different implementation.

For the moment, we will not be adding BCC, for the following reasons:

- Having multiple cryptos with the name ‘bitcoin’ will no doubt have a negative effect on the economy as a whole.

- It would take extra time and costs to set up a new coin server.

- It would need to be done in a hurry because with only 5 days left, the Bitcoin Cash client has still not been released.

- BCC’s late release suggests that the codebase may be buggy, not much testing has been done and it would be extra risky to base coin exchange on it.

- There is a chance that the lack of hashing power, the new and untested code or other circumstances will make BCC vulnerable against attacks.

Just to be safe, we will be halting bitcoin withdrawals and deposits on the 1st of August. Since we will not be setting up a BCC server, the BCC split from bitcoins will not be passed on to any users. Buyers have always been advised to withdraw bitcoins immediately after the purchase, sellers are advised to withdraw BTC during the fork while bitcoin trading is down. In all of August, deposits will require 6 confirmations. On BitBargain, typically only sellers deposit coins, so buyers will not be affected by this.

We will keep an eye on BCC and if there is large demand for it, we may support it in the future.