Coinbase, the world's largest Bitcoin platform, announces Bitcoin Segwit2x hard fork plan

With approximately 23 days remaining until the Bitcoin network is scheduled to increase its block size in order to meet the second half of the New York Agreement, many Bitcoin-based companies are beginning to reveal plans to hard fork in larger numbers.

Coinbase reveals company’s chain naming plans

Several Bitcoin services have revealed that the Segwit2x fork is approaching and everyone has started talking about it as many people and companies are steadily planning their Bitcoin storage solutions. Now, crypto businesses are increasingly taking to the stage and announcing their contingency plans for this particular fork every day. For example, one such company, the San Francisco-based exchange (Coinbase) detailed its fork plans a few weeks ago. The exchange did not reveal the names of each Bitcoin-based block at the time. Now, the company is moving forward and detailing its token split naming plan.

“The result of the hard fork will be two different blocks, which means there will be two different digital assets,” Coinbase explained.

“After the hard fork, we will continue to refer to the current Bitcoin blockchain as Bitcoin, using the symbol “BTC”. We will refer to the new blockchain resulting from the fork as Bitcoin2x, referencing the symbol B2X. If the Segwit2x change is accepted by a majority of users, we may choose to rename these blockchains at a later date.”

Coinbase explained that their customers do not need to take any action and all users holding BTC balances will receive B2X at a 1:1 ratio. The company supports buying, selling, sending, receiving, and “services for both chains” may be disabled hours before and 24-48 hours after the fork. “The company also pointed out that Segwit2x does not have double-split protection, but Coinbase has already activated its own replay protection. Coinbase communications director David Farmer also wrote a separate blog for the company, revealing the “timeline and support” for Segwit2x and Bitcoin Gold forks. However, the San Francisco-based company stressed that “there are concerns about its [Bitcoin Gold] security and stability.

BTC.Com to Implement Custom Replay Protection

This week, wallet provider BTC.com revealed that it has decided to support both chains, just as it did with the Bitcoin Cash fork this past August. The startup’s recent blog post detailed that BTC.com wallet users can be confident that they will be able to handle the pending chain split smoothly. The reason for this is because the wallet provider says it has designed its own form of replay protection.

BTC.com’s contingency plan explains: “Wallet users’ transactions will not be replayed (or rebroadcast) on both chains, a situation that could result in loss of funds while using wallets from organizations that do not take preventive measures. We believe that providing wallet-side replay protection is a critical step in providing a more secure product to process, and is a proactive solution to the evolving real needs of crypto users .”

Gatecoin Exchange refuses to support Segwit2x, customers must exit 12 hours in advance before block 494784

The Hong Kong-based trading platform, Gatecoin, explained its refusal to support the Segwit2x hard fork. The trading platform detailed that the lack of two-way replay protection of this hard fork is the main reason why they do not like Segwit2x. Gatecoin also refers to the associated token of the Segwit2x chain as “B2X.” The exchange said it will not support B2X, distribute the token, process any B2X sent to its Bitcoin wallet address, and will not list the coin on the company’s trading platform.

“Gatecoin customers wishing to provide B2X coins in the amount of new coins equal to their Bitcoin holdings at the time of the hard fork should therefore withdraw their Bitcoin from our exchange at least 12 hours before the hard fork occurs on 494784,” the exchange’s blog reads.

“We will, however, run the B2X node in case the software developers decide to add replay attack protection in the future.”

Coinbase, BTC.com and Gatecoin join a growing list of Bitcoin-based companies announcing plans for the Segwit2x fork. As the countdown draws closer, cryptocurrency supporters will be watching to see where each business stands.