1 August fork deadline
This doc will be constantly updated with the timeline of therocktrading actions about “1 August bitcoin fork”, so it may change often.
Now that BIP91 has locked-in and a stream of blocks supporting segwit is being produced, things are getting clearer and it’s time to try to identify what we will do as a bitcoin exchange.
First let us remind you that we are against any fork. ‘nuff said.
We are supportive of segwit soft fork as it is the most tested and well accepted, and we are ready for it.
Bitcoin Cash has announced it will hard fork on 1 August 12:20 am.
I am personally against this hard fork. As an exchange too, but unlike me, the main reason is pratical: any business do not like disruption, instability and uncertainity in the market it operates.
So, what therocktrading is going to do?
30 July: Greenaddress deposits/withdrawals will be stopped
Greenaddress is a long time partner of therocktrading and has decided it will only support bitcoin core chain (and it is segwit ready). Any deposit to a greenaddress therock address after this date is unsupported: do not use it, until further notice.
Note: at any point we reserve the right to increase the amount of confirmations needed for any deposits.
31 July: Bitcoin deposits/withdrawals will be stopped
Greenaddress is not the only way to deposit at the rock, we also support “regular” bitcoin deposits. In the approach of August 1, with the risk of network instability, chain splits and at least an hard fork announced, it is safer to completely stop bitcoin deposits (see also bitcoin.org advice). Do not deposit after this date, until further notice.
Update: Mon 31 Jul 2017 15:36:16 CEST; bitcoin deposits and withdrawals suspended.
1 August: Fork!
At this time trading will continue for Bitcoin, as it is.
We will constantly monitor bitcoin network for any update, as we always do: even not considering the hard fork, chain splits and a general network instability can still happen.
Note: open margin positions involving bitcoin, will not split bitcoin. And you should close any position, long or short, accross the fork to avoid unexpected price movements and margin calls. Trading in general should be done with caution during this time.
Update: Tue 1 Aug 2017 15:42:07 CEST; Bitcoin cash balances have been credited. BCHBTC market has opened.
Update: Tue 1 Aug 2017 18:11:01 CEST; Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals restored. Still waiting for bitcoin cash first blocks.
1 August +n day: standing fast on present positions*
Until the network stabilize and an outcome is clear (we do not know how long it will take), deposits/withdrawals will remain stopped. After that, we will have GreenAddress deposits available for BTC only for sure.
If an hard fork had really happened and there will be enough protection against any transaction disruption, we may split coins and sooner or later let the user withdraw his/her new coins.
Update: Odds that we will have Bitcoin Cash (BCH) support has increased lately, since developers have added strong replay protection. To credit Bitcoin Cash balances, we may need to stop all trading activities.
Trading of the new coin maybe available as well, including deposits in this case, if enough interest has been made evident and a proper chain has taken its course.
Final note: if you have any doubts of any kind, your best action course should be and should always be to withdraw Bitcoin to your own wallet, take full control of them with your private keys and make your own decisions with them.
August 23rd, Bitcoin Cash deposits and withdrawals available
We have monitored the hashing rate on Bitcoin Cash and since for a long time it was not clear who had the majority of hash power, we didn’t feel safe to open deposits/withdrawals on Bitcoin Cash.
Now Bitcoin Cash has gone through some difficulty retargets; it also became more profitable to mine than Bitcoin for some time which led some hashing power to switch. It will still take a long time for things to settle down probably, the risk of reorgs are still there, but there is no point in wait much longer.
Deposits are available with 12 confirmations (6 if you are a verified user).
In case of a reorganization of the chain, we will take the loss on deposits; customers will take the the loss on withdrawals. However, we think the risk is very low.
PS> win a therocktrading ledger nano if you can refer the source of “standing fast on present positions” — Update: Thu 27 Jul 2017 14:36:34 CEST: Paolo won a ledger nano, case closed.
