Please note that this is a highly technical update regarding the near term future of the bitcoin network. You do not need to understand the content of this article to continue to use Abra. This article is merely intended for the Abra users who wish to understand Abra’s policy regarding how we will support the Bitcoin network under various technical upgrade scenarios in the future.

Abra is completely committed to ensuring that, you, our customers are in control of your own digital currency. Our belief is that third parties should not manage your digital currency; you should. To that end, we want you to be aware of potential future events that may impact your ability to transact and manage your bitcoin correctly using your Abra wallet App on iPhone or Android. If you utilize Abra by holding fiat currency, ie. hedged bitcoin, you’ll likely never even notice that a network change has occurred. If you’re using Abra to hold bitcoin, ie. not fiat, then there are instances where the scenarios described below may apply to you.

There are several potential technology changes, upgrades and hard forks being considered by various bitcoin network constituents. This linked article provides a fairly comprehensive overview of these changes and analyzes what may happen under each scenario.

While Abra has shown public support for the SegWit upgrade to Bitcoin as well as the currently pending SegWit2X plan to implement both SegWit along with a base block size increase to 2MB, we will ultimately support the Bitcoin blockchain representing the longest chain with the most historical hashing power and difficulty associated with it.

Should Segwit2X fully activate, you will likely not notice any change during the first phase in August which is simply the activation of Segwit. Phase 2, which will likely occur in November, will be a hard fork in the Bitcoin blockchain to a full 2MB base block size.

We will provide further updates as we approach the November hard fork should it appear that the Segwit2X hard fork has a chance to activate. It is likely that no action will be required on your part, although we will notify you regardless as to whether any actions will or won’t be required on your part.

Lastly, there is a competing proposal for a User Activated Hard Fork (UAHF) to activate on August 1. The UAHF is incompatible with the current bitcoin ruleset, including Segwit, and would create a separate blockchain. Should UAHF activate on August 1, Abra will not support the new blockchain. If you wish to support the UAHF you should withdraw your bitcoin from Abra at least 24 hours before August 1.