Cryptocurrency exchange HitBTC has decided to send half of its bitcoins to Bitcoin Unlimited, then exchange them for Ethereum tokens. The decision was made following a vote of users after the bitcoin fork did not materialize on March 31.

HitBTC held a voting to define the future of BTC and BTU processing on its platform. A total of 808 votes were cast and the largest block of voters wanted to turn BTU into Ethereum tokens.

“Now it seems like people want us to convert BTU into ETH tokens and support Bitcoin Unlimited organization,” Victoria Ortiz, marketing manager, noted in an email to CCN.com shortly after March 31. “If this option wins we will send 50% of tokens to Bitcoin Unlimited.”

On April 13, Ortiz said HitBTC was discussing with Bitcoin Unlimited how to proceed with the transfer.

The Votes Are Tallied

HitBTC voting results were as follows:

Wait another week, 12%

Enable BTC plus BTU withdrawals, 40%

Turn BTU into Ethereum tokens, 48%.

In a blog on April 5, HitBTC reported that option 3 was the winner by a small margin. HitBTC decided to create Ethereum tokens to be available for trading and withdrawal. The Ethereum tokens would replace BTU on HitBTC and support the Bitcoin Unlimited project.

HitBTC users will be able to withdraw new tokens to their Ethereum wallet and credit their HitBTC account with them. They will also be able to trade them on BTU/BTC market.

“Should the hard fork occur, HitBTC would operate as described here, without changes,” the blog stated. “Your account won’t be credited with BTU.”

While half the tokens were to be transferred to the needs of the Bitcoin Unlimited Project, the other half was to be distributed among traders. “You will receive as many tokens as you have BTU,” the blog noted.

“As they (the new tokens) are becoming more demanded and valuable assets, more benefits for this project are emerging,” the blog further stated.

An Early Bitcoin Unlimited Supporter

Bitcoin Unlimited was listed on HitBTC and was available for trading on March 24. BTC and BTU withdrawals were temporarily locked at one point due to a possible attack which could have occurred after a hard fork split.

HitBTC, launched in 2013 with 6 million Euro in venture capital, provides trading services to individual traders. The trading platform provides multi-currency support. SEPA payments are processed within three days, SWIFT payments take up to five days.

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