There is a proposal to fork the current Bitcoin protocol into a new protocol known as Bitcoin Cash. This means that after August 1st, 2017 there is a chance that there’s going to be two versions of the Bitcoin blockchain and two separate digital currencies. A hard fork successfully occurred just one year before for the Ethereum blockchain, which happened due to the DAO being hacked. A hard fork splits the current blockchain in to two blockchains, which was necessary rid Ethereum of vulnerability.
If Bitcoin Cash should fork, it will employ an altered protocol with a few changes, e.g. no Segregated Witness (SegWit) implementation. Various exchanges and services react to this in different ways and it needs to be seen what will eventually happen.
UPDATE:
Hey miners!
There’s a new cryptocurrency in town: “Bitcoin Cash” was successfully forked off the original Bitcoin protocol with Block #478559. It’s an altered version of Bitcoin and inherited its history, but follows a different scaling vision and technical foundation. We will continue to watch the development closely and determine if an addition to the mining portfolio is favoured by our customers.
As previously announced, this representative change in the network forced many companies to temporarily interrupt exchanges, payouts and other services until the situation was clear again. However, our mining operation continued and we’re resuming to pay out all funds beginning today (23:59 UTC). This includes all mining algorithms. Payouts were also halted for those as various customers use their mining allocation for auto-converting to BTC.
What Genesis Mining clients need to know
What will happen to my Bitcoin Mining contract?
All Bitcoin (sha256) mining contracts will continue mining the original Bitcoin blockchain as before.Everybody can fork the Bitcoin protocol at any time. This does not mean that any fork has the same mining and community support that the original Bitcoin protocol has. Any fork of the Bitcoin protocol is to be treated as it’s own cryptocurrency.
I have Bitcoins in a wallet, what will happen to them?
It depends on where you store your coins. If you hold them directly in your wallet with your private keys you have full control over your funds. In this case your balance from before the fork will appear in both branches after the fork, i.e., you will have the same balance of Bitcoin A and Bitcoin B.If you’re using an exchange to hold your funds, the exchange has control over your funds and you might end up owning both versions of the coin, or just one that the exchange chose to support. The exchanges have already or will communicate their procedure to you.
What will happen to my Bitcoin (SHA256) contract daily mining payouts?
Nothing changes for the mining of the original Bitcoin protocol chain. All daily payouts will be processed as usual. You will receive your daily payout at the end of a mining day. A mining day starts at 00:00 UTC and ends at 23:59:59 UTC.
Do I get double the mining payout when Bitcoin forks?
No. Mining is not to be mistaken with owning a balance in the Bitcoin network: The mining for Bitcoin A will not be the same as for Bitcoin B as the transactions will change and thus the hashing solutions for those transactions will be invalidated. Since we’re actively mining the original blockchain with the hashpower provided, we’re only receiving the mining returns of that blockchain that then get paid out to our users.
Will there be fluctuations in the mining difficulty of Bitcoin?
There is a chance that the global Bitcoin hashrate could fluctuate as some miners switch their hashpower over to the forked protocol but it’s impossible to tell what will happen exactly.
Will you add any new Bitcoin fork as minable option to your customers?
Should a Bitcoin protocol fork, e.g. “Bitcoin Cash” last for a longer period and gain interest by our clients, we will analyze and assess the possibility of adding it to the mining portfolio.
Are other mining contracts, e.g. for Litecoin, influenced by this?
No – the mining of other cryptocurrencies is not influenced by a potential Bitcoin fork. However, as usual with big news in the industry, fluctuations in the market value of any coin are to be expected.
Do I need to do anything else?
No. In regards of mining everything will go on as normal. However, as the fork is likely to cause disruption in the Bitcoin network, we will temporarily halt payouts and orders (with cryptocurrencies) for up to 48 hours and release all funds to your wallets as usual after the situation is clear. This is a common security practice for exchanges and other companies alike. The mining operation itself is not influenced by this and resumes as normal.
Where can I find out more about this topic?
There are various online resources for the topic, however we can’t guarantee the authenticity of the content displayed. This said, you can check Coin.dance for current Bitcoin protocol details and Coindesk for general news.