The bulls are back and all is well in the land of cryptocurrencies. Traders are hard at work to carefully trade their coins to make profits and it is safe to say that things are back to normal – but only for a while.
All over the world, the crypto community was holding their breath in anticipation of 1 August 2017. This marked the date of the looming Bitcoin fork. This event resembled the anticipation of the last millennium, the year 2000. Will the world of cryptocurrencies, as we know it, end? Is this the end of Bitcoin? No and no. We bring you up to speed on what occurred on this faithful day and what you need to look out for going forward.
What was the big deal?
The gold standard of cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin was faced with a dilemma as the system was being flawed by slow transactions, higher fees, and lower transaction throughput. This was causing a lot of frustration for both developers and miners and something had to be done. The Bitcoin blockchain had a limit of only 1 MB and this had to increase or Bitcoin would slowly but surely cease to exist on the various exchanges. One faction of the Bitcoin community rooted for the User Activated Soft Fork (UASF) whilst another party planned to create another fork upon the implementation of UASF meaning Bitcoin would “fork.” When a cryptocurrency “forks” it can spell trouble as Bitcoin holders were unsure of how this event could impact the price of the precious coin. As they say “all’s well that ends well”. As a result of this “fork”, the world of cryptocurrencies welcomed a new member to the exchanges – Bitcoin Cash or BCH, depending on which exchange you make use of.
However, this is not the first time a “fork” occurred and will not be the last time. Ethereum is a good example of this as it introduced Ethereum Classic during its latest split. Now Bitcoin is being supported by Bitcoin Cash.
CEX.io to the rescue
Whilst Bitcoin holders may have been panicking about the “fork”, CEX.io ensured that all customers of the exchange had peace of mind about their coins. The exchange made an important announcement prior to 1 August that it would successfully credit current Bitcoin holders of Bitcoin Cash coins. This was done in according to the amount of Bitcoin they had on the exchange at the time. CEX.io chief marketing officer, Eugene Kovalyk told the press that: “The questions of listing Bitcoin Cash as a new trading pair depends on the demand. If demand is high we should consider adding it definitely… No one should lose Bitcoin Cash on our platform.” This promise was kept and goes to show how important customers and the safety of their assets are to CEX.io.
CEX.io was established in 2013 and is the most trusted name when it comes to the safekeeping of one’s precious cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. With outstanding services, it is no wonder that more than 500 000 people make use of CEX.io. Afterall, CEX.io was the first exchange to provide cloud mining. From beginners to experienced traders, CEX.io caters for all with its multi-level account system, worldwide coverage, and 24/7 customer support.
BCH breaking the internet
It was business as usual for CEX.io as they launched the BCH market on the exchange as promised and customers could trade to their heart’s content by using the following pairs:
BCH/USD
BCH/EUR
BCH/GBP
BCH/BTC
BCH surged to $750 upon being released and is currently looming around $350 making it one of the biggest cryptocurrencies yet. There was a lot of debate around Bitcoin Cash’s longevity. Will it be a long term or short-term coin? Only time will tell.
After making sure that BCH transfers are safe enough and the network is stable, CEX.IO enabled deposits and withdrawals in Bitcoin Cash on August, 16th.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, was standing at around $2 700 prior to the “fork” but has since recovered and is at an all-time high of about $4 200.
Bitcoin fork: Round 2
Surviving this Bitcoin fork was crucial but we need to brace ourselves for the next fork. A Scaling Bitcoin Workshops will be held at Stanford in November this year and will deal with issues such as the scaling roadmap. This will occur against the backdrop of another hard fork that is scheduled for late November. This hard fork aims at increasing Bitcoin’s block size limit. The fourth edition of the Scaling Bitcoin Workshops will take place on 4 – 5 November.
Previous workshops were held in Montreal, Hong Kong, and Milan and were supported by the Bitcoin Core development team. The theme for this year will be “Scaling the Edge.”
In November, Segwit2x that aims to double the current Bitcoin blockchain size limit, will be in the spotlight and Bitcoin holders will be anticipating how the second stage of SegWit will impact the markets.
Experts are predicting that the price of Bitcoin may increase drastically this year. This is not only because of the activation of SegWit but also because of the increase in usage of Bitcoin in mainstream, by consumers, investors, merchants, and traders. Bitcoin is becoming more popular by the hour and has rapidly increased its usage whilst still maintaining its status of a decentralized cryptocurrency and digital gold standard. It is being said that Bitcoin may cost $5 000 before the end of 2017. But first, Bitcoin’s scaling issues have to be dealt with. The Cryptocurrency market’s daily trading volume is currently well over %5.5 billion and the demand for cryptos is very high.