This is ViaBTC’s official statement on our counter measures of possible Bitcoin hard fork due to incompatibility among different scaling solutions.

1. We support Bitcoin Unlimited

Block scaling is urgent as the increasing transaction backlog in the Bitcoin network has forced a lot of users to other thriving competing coins. ViaBTC is the world’s first public pool that switched to Bitcoin Unlimited and we’ve since been playing an important role in block scaling, helping other pools to update to BU. We believe BU is so far the most optimal and applicable block scaling solution. ViaBTC’s “Miner Guide: How to Safely Hard Fork to Bitcoin Unlimited” (https://medium.com/@ViaBTC/miner-guide-how-to-safely-hard-fork-to-bitcoin-unlimited-8ac1570dc1a8#.xr1g7rb0k) gives a clear guidance on how to hard fork to BU. We make this statement because we can’t rule out the outcome that the Bitcoin blockchain will divided into two separate chains.

2. There is only one Bitcoin

We don’t accept “BCC”, “BCU” or other symbols created by some platforms as a valid Bitcoin, or a “second” Bitcoin. If the current blockchain hard forks into two chains, only one of them will be the valid Bitcoin chain, which means there will only be one Bitcoin, following the principles of Satoshi’s white paper. We will only support the scaling solution with the majority of consensus from the Bitcoin community. We will take the longest chain with the biggest proof of work as the only chain for Bitcoin. The other chain will eventually opted out by the market with lack of hashing power.

3. What do we do with a hard fork?

If a hard fork happens, here’s what we are going to do:

1) Pool/Cloud Mining: If a hard fork happens, our pool and cloud mining contracts will support the mining of the only valid Bitcoin.

2) Balance Withdrawal: If a hard fork happens, we will instantly secure every user’s valid Bitcoin balance at the time and calculate with a 100% ratio the amount of coins from the other chain. As a hard fork may generate technical risks such as replay attacks, internet instability etc., we will evaluate all the risks before we decide the period for users to withdraw your balance. As for the coins from the other chain, if users don’t withdraw them within our designated period (3 months) or the chain no longer lasts due to lack of hashing power support, , the coins will be erased from all accounts.

ViaBTC will take any necessary measures to ensure the safety of every user’s Bitcoin asset and continue to devote ourselves to the sustainable growth of Bitcoin industry.