Blockchain

Early Trading Shows Clear Preference In Divide Over Bitcoin Cash Fork

Bitcoin copies overview (to grow)

 

An experimental market on a major crypto exchange suggests that bitcoin cash users may favor the more established version of the software, Bitcoin ABC, ahead of an expected fork this month.

Due to the technical design of the cryptocurrency, currently the fourth-largest by market capitalization, bitcoin cash users must “hard fork” the blockchain, or adopt a new software version with changes as decided by open-source developers, every six months.

Things are different this time around, though, amid the emergence of a rival version of the software called Bitcoin SV. As a result, anticipation has been growing that bitcoin cash (BCH) may undergo a divisive hard fork in which it splits into two competing cryptocurrencies.

That said, data from cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex, operated by Goldman Sachs-backed blockchain startup Circle, indicates Bitcoin ABC may be the preferred version. After launching markets meant to represent both versions of the software (including the as-yet-to-launch Bitcoin SV), Bitcoin ABC has a clear lead, trading at a price over four times higher.

Poloniex introduced “pre-fork” trading, at around 01:00 UTC today in an effort to retain a neutral stance during the upcoming Bitcoin Cash upgrade. The idea that theoretical markets can help users determine consensus around technical roadmaps has been raised before, and this is the latest version of an exchange seeking to play a role in supporting community decision-making.

By offering the pairs, the exchange is essentially allowing its customers to see which chain might be more widely supported, should both softwares be introduced.

What the charts show

Still, evidence indicates the debate may not be as divisive as feared.

As can be seen in the chart below, BCHABC is trading at a price of $465 (priced in USDC, the exchange’s dollar-pegged stablecoin), which is 4.2 times higher the BCHSV’s current price of $109 USDC at time of writing. For comparison, the price of BCH is currently $596 USDC on Poloniex.

 

 

Pre-fork trading has been live for roughly 12-hours and is only available to those willing to convert their BCH to either of the forks, so trading volumes are still small. That said, BCHABC is again leading the charge with twice twice trading volume of BCHSV.

At press time, $45,785 USDC and $21,988 USDC have been traded for BCHABC and BCHSV, respectively.

While the experimental markets are relatively illiquid, the price discovery can be expected to be particularly erratic until sufficient liquidity has established.

BCHABC and BCHSV deposits and withdraws will only be enabled once the actual Bitcoin Cash fork takes place on Nov. 15, even then there is no guarantee the forks will become “economically or technically viable,” Poloniex says.

The exchange warns:

“You do not have to engage in pre-fork trading. If you choose to engage in pre-fork trading, please note that, as with all trading on the platform, trading in these assets can be extremely risky, and you trade at your own risk.  It is possible that one of these chains will not be economically or technically viable after the fork, and its value will drop to zero.”

 

from: https://www.coindesk.com/early-trading-shows-clear-preference-in-divide-over-bitcoin-cash-hard-fork/

 

 

Other Bitcoin Forks apart from BCH:

 

 

 

List of 44 Bitcoin forked coins since Bitcoin Cash

 

Name URL/Source Fork Height
Bitcoin Cash https://www.bitcoincash.org 478,558
Bitcoin Clashic http://bitcoinclashic.org (Forked from Bitcoin Cash)
Bitcoin Candy http://cdy.one (Forked from Bitcoin Cash)
Bitcoin Gold https://bitcoingold.org 491,407
Bitcore https://bitcore.cc 492,820
Bitcoin Diamond http://btcd.io 495,866
Bitcoin Platinum Bitcointalk 498,533
Bitcoin Hot https://bithot.org 498,777
United Bitcoin https://www.ub.com 498,777
BitcoinX https://bcx.org 498,888
Super Bitcoin http://supersmartbitcoin.com 498,888
Oil Bitcoin http://oilbtc.io 498,888
Bitcoin Pay http://www.btceasypay.com 499,345
Bitcoin World https://btw.one 499,777
Bitclassic Coin http://bicc.io 499,888
Lightning Bitcoin https://lightningbitcoin.io 499,999
Bitcoin Stake https://bitcoinstake.net 499,999
Bitcoin Faith http://bitcoinfaith.org 500,000
Bitcoin Eco http://biteco.io 500,000
Bitcoin New https://www.btn.org 500,100
Bitcoin Top https://www.bitcointop.org 501,118
Bitcoin God https://www.bitcoingod.org 501,225
Fast Bitcoin https://fbtc.pro 501,225
Bitcoin File https://www.bitcoinfile.org 501,225
Bitcoin Cash Plus https://www.bitcoincashplus.org 501,407
Bitcoin Segwit2x https://b2x-segwit.io 501,451
Bitcoin Pizza http://p.top 501,888
Bitcoin Ore http://www.bitcoinore.org 501,949
World Bitcoin http://www.wbtcteam.org 503,888
Bitcoin Smart https://bcs.info 505,050
BitVote https://bitvote.one 505,050
Bitcoin Interest https://bitcoininterest.io 505,083
Bitcoin Atom https://bitcoinatom.io 505,888
Bitcoin Community http://btsq.top/ 506,066
Big Bitcoin http://bigbitcoins.org 508,888
Bitcoin Private https://btcprivate.org 511,346
Classic Bitcoin https://https://bitclassic.info 516,095
Bitcoin Clean https://www.bitcoinclean.org 518,800
Bitcoin Hush https://btchush.org 1stFebruary 2018
Bitcoin Rhodium https://www.bitcoinrh.org Unknown
Bitcoin LITE https://www.bitcoinlite.net Unknown
Bitcoin Lunar https://www.bitcoinlunar.org Unknown
Bitcoin Green https://www.savebitcoin.io Unknown
Bitcoin Hex http://bitcoinhex.com Unknown

(Source: BitMEX Research, Forked coin websites,findmycoins.ninja)