According to Coindesk, Segwit is a done deal, with 90% of miners giving a thumbs-up. A quick look at Coindance also draws a picture that all is well with the world.
So time to load up on BTC, wouldn’t you say? Not so fast.
Coinbase today just sent out a warning email to all its customers, warning of a possible (probable) hard fork on August 1st:
“On August 1st, 2017 there is a proposal to make changes to the bitcoin software. This proposal, known as Bitcoin Cash, is likely to create a fork in the Bitcoin network. This means that after August 1st, 2017 there are likely to be two versions of the Bitcoin blockchain and two separate digital currencies.”
So what is Bitcoin Cash? Well to keep it short and sweet, it’s a rogue movement of Bitcoin developers who don’t like Segwit, more on them here.
Pretty much everybody is ignoring them except for the Chinese miner ViaBTC which is actively supporting them and control about 4% of Bitcoin computing power. And that gives them enough oomph to split Bitcoin in two (create a hard fork).
So what will happen to everybody’s Bitcoin on August 1st. Well most exchanges are refusing to support Bitcoin cash, so don’t expect to two different bitcoins in your wallet come August 1st. But do expect a lot of confusion and very little trading on that day.
