Five American bitcoin ATM operators have ceased to use Bitcoin Core as their wallet software solution. As a result, 29 bitcoin ATMs will process customer transactions on the bitcoin network via Classic nodes.

One of them, Bitlove, has published a statement explaining this choice:

“Because a functional Bitcoin network is a necessity to our businesses the blockchain debate is more than philosophical for us. We believe that by having larger blocks the physical infrastructure that we are building will have a real chance at becoming viable and successful.” Other four operators include Coinucopia, Herocoin, Tobitcoin and Sumbits.

The total number of affected US BTMs is 29, which is quite a significant percentage since the total number of devices in the country is 259.

Although the change from Bitcoin Core to Bitcoin Classic does not imply any notable difference to customers in terms of usage, every BTM functions as a bitcoin node as well. Therefore, 29 more nodes have been added to Bitcoin Classic, reinforcing the split in the bitcoin community over the way to increase the block size.

The heated debate on the block size is continuing. Following the agreement on 2017 hard fork timeline, reached on 21 February, many important bitcoin players are now turning to Bitcoin Classic, such as Coinbase, Xapo and one of the mining platforms Slush Pool.

As of now, Bitcoin Classic is receiving growing support, as the block size debate is still far from being resolved with a consensus supported by the absolute majority. Yesterday’s release of Bitcoin Core 0.12.0, according to some critics, can intensify the controversies in the coming weeks.

Anna Lavinskaya