Anyone can create a chain fork of Bitcoin at any time. The possibility of a User Activated Hard Fork (UAHF) on 1 August 2017 requires that we clarify our position on any and all potential hardforks.

BitMEX Policies

At BitMEX, our top priority is protecting the assets of our customers. In order for us to effectively do this, we insist that any Bitcoin hard fork includes the following:

Strong two-way replay protection, enabled by default, such that transactions on each chain are invalid on the other chain.

A clean break, such that the new chain cannot be “wiped out” by the original chain.

A modification to the block header such that all wallets (including light clients) are required to upgrade to follow the new chain.

A minimum of three months of open testing and review, before the client is formally released and a further three months after this, before the fork activates.

Should a hardfork not follow these policies, we will not list the coin and may not allow users to withdraw this coin from BitMEX. To be clear, we do not intend to access or keep these coins. The administrative overhead of distributing any and all hardforked coins (including Bitcoin-based distributions like Byteball/Lumens) is prohibitive and BitMEX will not monitor or maintain balances of hard-forked coins.

Additionally, support of any forked currency is solely at the discretion of BitMEX. While we will snap users’ margin balances at the time of the fork in case we decide to distribute, there is no guarantee that it will be safe, desirable, or practical to do so. If this concerns you, you should withdraw your funds before any given fork and handle the split on your own.

In a future case where a block size increase has supermajority support of the community and is handled responsibly, BitMEX intends to follow said chain and we will communicate with our traders accordingly.

1 August 2017 UAHF BitMEX Policy

The Bitcoin Cash (BCC) proposal is aimed at increasing the blocksize. It is scheduled to take place on 1 August 2017. This change is incompatible with the current Bitcoin ruleset and therefore a new coin may be created, which is to be named “Bitcoin Cash”.

It is our understanding that the UAHF proposal does not include two-way replay protection enabled by default. Should the UAHF occur, BitMEX may be unable to protect the new Bitcoin Cash tokens on behalf of clients.

As such, BitMEX will not support the split or distribution of Bitcoin Cash, nor will BitMEX be liable for any Bitcoin Cash sent to BitMEX. Therefore, it is up to our users to withdraw from BitMEX prior to August 1st if they wish to access Bitcoin Cash tokens or any other hardfork.

BitMEX considers any and all hardforks in this vein as altcoins. The .BXBT and .BXBTJPY indices will remain unchanged and will not include BCC.