Coinbase Reveals its 2x Fork Plans

Another large bitcoin exchange in the industry, Coinbase, has announced an update concerning the upcoming Segwit2x hard fork.

The San Francisco-based trading platform and wallet provider follows the recent Bitfinex announcement detailing plans for a possible bitcoin split.

Coinbase Reveals Customers Will Have Access to Bitcoin on Both Blockchains

This week the exchange Coinbase which provides over 36M wallets to bitcoin users revealed some parts of its plan for the upcoming Segwit2x fork. Coinbase states that they want to let customers know the company’s business mission is to ensure trust and safety within the cryptocurrency environment. Further, Coinbase emphasizes that there is no action required from users and “bitcoin can be securely stored on Coinbase before, during, and after the fork.” 

“Customers with bitcoin balances stored on Coinbase at the time of the fork will have access to bitcoin on both blockchains,” explains the exchange.

After the fork, we will enable access when we have determined each blockchain is secure and stable. We expect this to happen within a few days after the fork, but it may take longer if additional risks emerge.

The San Francisco Exchange Will Reveal Distinct Names of the Two Bitcoin Blockchains Soon

The company executive, Dan Romero, explains they are still in the process of working on bitcoin cash withdrawals. The firm is also presently researching “engineering and security requirements for each bitcoin blockchain.”

Of course, the announcement did not give away what everyone wanted to hear — Which is an answer to the question on how Coinbase will name each fork (due to the online debates around which fork has “the right to be called Bitcoin”). The announcement is also different than when the exchange revealed its initial plans to not support the previous hard fork, bitcoin cash. This time around, the company is saying they will allow access to the new chain, and customers do not have to withdraw their coins by a certain date.

Community members are curious about the decisions made by companies like Coinbase and Blockchain.info as these firms have a lot of users within the bitcoin ecosystem. Coinbase does intend to tell the public how it will deal with the naming the two forks, as the company reveals it will be releasing this information in the near future.

In the coming weeks — nearer to the date of the fork — we will provide a more detailed plan for how Coinbase will approach naming the two Bitcoin blockchains.

What do you think about the announcement from Coinbase concerning the Segwit2x fork?
Which protocol do you think they will call ‘Bitcoin?’
Let us know what you think in the comments below.