BCH overview & information for Bitfinex users

01 August 2017 in in Announcements

This post is an update to the July 27th post regarding the August 1st forking event. It further addresses the Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) hard fork ramifications for our users.

What timestamp will Bitfinex use to determine how many BCH users holding a BTC balance will receive?

Bitfinex will use the timestamp of the last common block, meaning the timestamp of the first block that makes the median time increment to 12:20 pm UTC (or later) on August 1st. This happened at block height 478,558 – time stamp August 1st, 2017, 13:16:14 UTC.

What is the cutoff for new BTC deposits to receive BCH?

We stopped processing BTC deposits at 12 pm UTC on August 1st, 2017. Any deposit that was not credited to Bitfinex wallet balances at that time is not eligible for BCH distribution.

Will Bitfinex be listing BCH trading pairs?

We will form a view on whether to list BCH markets based on how the situation evolves. As soon as a decision has been made, we will alert our users via an announcement on https://www.bitfinex.com/posts and via www.twitter.com/bitfinex

When will BTC deposits and withdrawals be re-enabled?

BTC deposits and withdrawals have been re-enabled already.

When will BCH withdrawals be available?

BCH withdrawals will not be enabled until we deem it is safe to do so. It is impossible to approximate the exact time, and it could potentially take 24 hours or longer.

When will BCH deposits be available?

BCH deposits will only be enabled if we decide to list BCH trading pairs. Do not send BCH deposits until we make BCH addresses available. This is very important. In the event that BCH deposits are enabled, be sure to split your coins post-fork before sending deposits.

Can I use my BCH as margin collateral?

BCH will not be eligible as collateral for margin positions.

What is the difference between BCC and BCH on the Bitfinex platform?

Before the fork event on the August 1st, Bitfinex had already allocated the symbol BCC as an eventuality of what would happen in the case of an entirely different fork. You can read more about chain-split tokens and their associated terms. Given the prior existing of the BCC symbol, the decision was made to designate the Bitcoin Cash token as BCH. (Furthermore, the cryptocurrency BitConnect also uses the BCC symbol).

These two tokens, BCC and BCH, are completely different, and we strongly encourage all users to recognize and understand this fact.