Coinbase: Bitcoin Segwit2x Fork Imminent

Coinbase says it has frozen Bitcoin sends and receives, hours before the long-awaited and controversial Bitcoin Segwit2x fork.

Coinbase sent out an alert to customers on what’s happening:

“Last week, the Segwit2x development team announced they would no longer continue with the project. In addition, a significant portion of miners and other community leaders withdrew their support for the fork. However, despite these developments, a small number of miners may attempt to go forward with a fork.

To protect customer funds, Coinbase will disable Bitcoin sends and receives at 2 am Pacific Time on November 17th, and disable buys and sells an hour before the fork, which is currently predicted to occur between 6am to 8am Pacific Time on November 17th. All functionality will be re-enabled shortly afterwards.”

Coinbase says it’s prepared for just about any outcome, and if the fork creates a stable and working Segwit2x network it will give customers access to Bitcoin2x funds. The company also went through some of the possible outcomes after the fork:

“Scenario 1: network is unusable

If support for the fork remains at current levels, or decreases, the Bitcoin2x network will be unusable. Coinbase will not support withdrawals or trading as it will not be possible to move these assets. Currently we believe this is the most likely scenario.

If the network gains support at a later date, we will enable Bitcoin2x withdrawals from the platform.

Scenario 2: network is usable

If transactions are being confirmed at a reasonable speed, and miner support is strong, we will allow Coinbase customers to withdraw Bitcoin2x. We will not immediately enable buys and sells as previously stated, but we may enable them at a later date.”

Meanwhile, Coinbase says it is still on track to fully support Bitcoin Cash by January 1, 2018.