Coinbase Will Not Support Hard Fork Blockchain

News | July 19, 2017 By:

San Francisco-based Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, will not support a separate blockchain if the User Activated Hard Fork (UAHF) is implemented.

In a letter to customers, Coinbase claimed the UAHF is “incompatible with the current bitcoin ruleset and will create a separate blockchain. Should UAHF activate on August 1, Coinbase will not support the new blockchain or its associated coin.”

The UAHF competitor, the User Activated Soft Fork (UASF), is a proposal to adopt Segregated Witness on the bitcoin blockchain and could result in network instability. It is scheduled to activate at the same time as the UAHF, raising the possibility that two separate camps of coins could exist.

Coinbase added:  “To ensure the safety of customers’ funds, we will temporarily suspend bitcoin deposits, withdrawals, and buy/sell starting approximately four hours before activation of either fork.”

The exchange recommended moving bitcoins to an outside wallet by July 31 if access is needed in that time frame or if the user wishes to have access to any potential UAHF coins.