Bitcoin Cash will hard fork on November 15 2018 around 4:40 pm UTC as part of a scheduled protocol upgrade. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding this fork due to influential ecosystem participants being strongly divided in opinion.

Who does Voltaire Support?

As part of our mission to see peer-to-peer electronic cash displacing the financial system, Voltaire will respect Nakamoto Consensus and support the chain with the longest proof of work.

What this means in practice is that Voltaire is ready to follow and list either conflicting implementation (Bitcoin ABC or Bitcoin SV). We’ve prepared our wallets to support both coins, as the situation will require, and will follow the chain with majority hashpower.

We are discouraged by the lack of compromise and side closest with Bitcoin Unlimited’s, neutral approach.

What will happen?

A hard fork occurs when miners want to change the Bitcoin software. The change is major and renders the older chain invalid. In this case, two Bitcoin Cash development teams would like to introduce changes to the Bitcoin software which are incompatible with not only the current chain, but each other’s new chain.

We expect a contentious (competing) hard fork. In order to protect user funds, we will be suspending Bitcoin Cash deposits and withdrawals at 4 pm UTC on November 15th.

Should the fork result in two competing chains, we will monitor the demand for supporting the minority chain over the coming weeks and months.

Are my coins safe?

Yes. In order to protect user funds, we will be suspending deposits and withdrawals at 4 pm UTC on November 15th. We strongly recommend users withdraw Bitcoin Cash from Voltaire and secure their own private keys for the duration of the fork action, which can be monitored here.

Will trading be available?

Yes. Trading on Voltaire will continue to operate as normal during the fork.