One of the largest bitcoin wallet providers in the world, Blockchain, has announced its plans for the upcoming Segwit2x fork. After block 494784 takes place on the network, the firm has decided it will follow the chain with the most accumulated difficulty.
Also read: Blockchain Wallet Adds the Ability to Exchange and Store Ether
Blockchain: ‘Segwit2x Is a Capacity Upgrade’
Blockchain is one of the oldest bitcoin wallet providers in the industry, servicing over 18 million issued wallets. This week the company has revealed its contingency plans for the Segwit2x block size increase. According to the wallet provider, Segwit2x is “essentially a software upgrade that will bring improved capacity to the Bitcoin protocol.” Blockchain says the team is working 24-7 to make sure users’ funds will be protected and safe throughout the fork. In order to ensure safety, the wallet service says specific features will be inoperable for a period of time.
“To keep your funds safe while the network is in transition, we will temporarily suspend bitcoin send, request, buy, sell, and exchange functionality roughly 24 hours before the time of the fork until the network stabilizes,” explains Blockchain.
Blockchain’s Services Will Follow the Chain With the Most Accumulated Difficulty
The company explains there is no immediate action required by users but does advise them to make sure they have saved their passwords and seed phrases. Additionally Blockchain acknowledges the chance of a blockchain split resulting in two tokens and separate networks. The firm has decided on the token names and which chain it will support after the fork.
“There is a significant possibility that the planned hard fork will result in two bitcoin blockchains,” Blockchain emphasizes.
In this case, we will follow the chain with the most accumulated difficulty and refer to that chain as bitcoin. If the minority chain has significant value, we will make that value available for customers to hold or exchange for a period of time, as we have done with Bitcoin Cash. If the minority chain is the one with 1MB blocks, we plan to call it BT1. If the minority chain has 2MB blocks, we plan to call it BT2.
The Firm Will Temporarily Suspend Transactions
The London-based company further explains users will be able to view their bitcoin holdings, but Blockchain will “temporarily suspend transactions for bitcoin.” Moreover, even though the platform’s buy and sell functionality will be suspended, the firm notes Blockchain wallet users can transact with ethereum during the fork. In addition to the Segwit2x contingency plan announcement, the company has created a “status page” called blockchain-status.com. A place where Blockchain wallet users can get regular updates concerning the pending fork alongside other announcements in the future.
What do you think about Blockchain’s decision to follow the most accumulated PoW? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Blockchain.
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