Japan’s Biggest Bitcoin Exchanges Reveal Bitcoin Gold Hard Fork Plans
Two of Japan’s leading bitcoin exchanges have announced their plans for the upcoming bitcoin hard fork, scheduled to occur this week.
Tokyo-based bitFlyer, Japan’s largest and best-funded bitcoin exchange, has revealed its intention to distribute Bitcoin Gold (BTG) to users prior to the split of the bitcoin blockchain – expected to occur on October 25th. The exchange also revealed its intention to launch trading services in support of the new cryptocurrency, enabling users to sell, deposit and send BTG from their bitFlyer accounts.
A new altcoin that will emerge from a hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain, Bitcoin Gold is led by Jack Liao of Hong Kong-based mining firm LightningASIC with the aim of improving the protocol. The new cryptocurrency is expected to form after the hard fork split on block 491,407.
bitFlyer wrote in its announcement [PDF]:
We will credit you with an amount of BTG corresponding to the amount of Bitcoin (BTC) in your bitFlyer account prior to the split. 2 If the BTG split is deemed by bitFlyer to be permanent and secure in regards to customer assets, you will be able to own both BTC and BTG in your bitFlyer account.
BTG withdrawals and deposits will be enabled by the exchange “after sufficient observation of the stability in the BTG chain after the split”, bitFlyer added.
Coincheck, another major Japanese exchange, also announced it is ‘planning to provide Bitcoin Gold’ in the event of a chain split.
In a public notice last week, the exchange revealed it hadn’t determined a specific date and time for distributing the new cryptocurrency, contingent on determining if the new token has sufficient replay attack protection, a stable miner hashpower and adequate protection from vulnerabilities. Still, the exchange added it may not provide Bitcoin Gold if “we decide listing of Bitcoin Gold is inappropriate.”
Coincheck also revealed its calculation for the amount of bitcoin gold to be distributed to users of its trading accounts.
Bitcoin Gold to be distributed = ( (Amount of Bitcoin you own) + (Amount of long position you hold) – (Amount of short position you hold) – (Amount of Bitcoin you’re borrowing) )
The equation differs for payouts toward users of payment and lending accounts at the exchange.
Unlike bitFlyer, Coincheck revealed it has not decided on any trading options for Bitcoin Gold just yet. There will be no suspension of services at both exchanges around the time of the split.
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