The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network will be forking on the 15th November at approximately 11pm Sydney time.

The fork itself is expected; the network forks every 6 months, however, there is a potential for this fork to be contentious due to some conflicting ideas about the future direction of the cryptocurrency. A contentious fork will sometimes lead to two resulting blockchains and cryptocurrencies.

At time of writing it appears the vast majority of miners are signalling in one direction, so it is possible the fork will not be contentious, but time will tell and we will keep you up to date.

What do I need to do?

To ensure a smooth transition, Independent Reserve will be disabling deposits and withdrawals of BCH approximately 3 hours prior to the fork and will keep them disabled until we deem the network to be stable. Any deposits during this time will not be lost, but will only be credited once we re-enable deposits and withdrawals.

We recommend you withdraw your BCH to a personal wallet prior to the fork if you wish to move your BCH coins during this time.

If you’re unsure what any of this means, your coins will be safe if left on the exchange.

Will you split my coins for me?

In the advent of a contentious fork, and BCH splits into two blockchains/cryptocurrencies, we will not be splitting your coins. At this stage, we will be supporting the dominant chain, so if you wish to receive coins from both chains please first withdraw your BCH from Independent Reserve prior to us disabling withdrawals (approx 8pm on Sunday the 15th November).

Customer Support

If you have any further questions regarding the BCH fork, please do not hesitate to raise a ticket with our support team.