Preparing for Change

Securing customers’ bitcoin is our top priority, and your funds will be safe at Purse. In the upcoming weeks, we anticipate two forks to take effect, and we wish to communicate what this means to our customers on Purse.

Our goal is to balance user experience, transparency, security, and fairness (especially given the various levels of technical aptitude for those that depend on our service):

In the case of the August 1st hardfork, we will provide customers with the choice of withdrawing any newly created coins or automatically converting that value to additional Bitcoin for their Purse wallet.

Details

On August 1, 2017 at 12:20 pm UTC, a project called Bitcoin Cash is expected to hard fork creating a new coin. We expect the vast majority of the Bitcoin community to remain on the existing (majority) chain and for Bitcoin Cash to be a minority chain.

If the Bitcoin Cash blockchain continues, and the currency has significant value after August 8, 2017, we will take a snapshot of account balances prior to the hard fork, with the intent of providing the option for customers to withdraw BCC or convert that value to BTC on Purse.

On or around August 10, Segregated Witness (SegWit) is expected to activate, initiated by the SegWit2X project. SegWit is an upgrade to Bitcoin that fixes transaction malleability enabling new innovations such as the Lightning Network. We do not expect a chain split with this event, as SegWit activates through a soft fork.

Fork FAQ

Will Purse continue to operate as normal during these on-going changes in the network?

We will take countermeasures against potential replay attacks and operate normally without scheduled downtime.

Is there any risk to simply leaving my BTC in Purse during this event?

We will monitor the network during both event and prioritize the security of BTC stored on Purse (even funds held in secure escrow).

What are Purse’s plans for Bitcoin Cash?

We plan on providing our customers with the choice to withdraw BCC or convert it to BTC in their Purse wallet.

When will BCC be available on Purse?

Due to the unprecedented nature of the hard fork, we cannot guarantee a timeline. You can follow @PurseIO (twitter.com/@PurseIO) for the latest updates.

Will Purse support multiple chains?

We do not plan on supporting any additional currencies natively and will remain focused on providing great services and tools for the community.

What happens to BCC sent to Purse after the hard fork?

Wallets on Purse will not support BCC after the fork, and any BCC deposited to Purse after the hard fork will be considered invalid.