Bitpay, the global bitcoin merchant service provider, announced its plans for the Segwit2X hard fork, which is scheduled to occur at block height 494,784, around November 16.
The Atlanta-based company founded in 2011 has recently announced that it approaches 1 billion dollars in bitcoin payments processed annually.
As expected, Bitpay assures users that its top priority during a hard fork is their safety and security and that it will take necessary precautions to protect them. The company details what the company will do during the hard fork.
Significant Risk of Chain Split
Being a NYA signatory and staunch supporter of Segwit2X, Bitpay explains that a majority of miners and businesses still support Segwit2x, but also acknowledges that not everyone will follow the hard fork chain in the end. That poses a significant risk, which Bitpay has no reason to hide:
“While most miners signaled their support of this protocol change, not all support it. If miners are divided over this change, there is a significant risk of a chain split”
Bitpay: We Will Follow The Chain With Most Proof Of Work
Fifteen days before the controversial hard fork finally, takes place, Bitpay echoes Coinbase’s and Xapo’s stance saying that it will follow the chain with the most accumulated difficulty. Thus, in the event of a split, Bitpay is crystal clear:
“If that occurs, Bitpay’s services will follow the chain with the most accumulated difficulty.”
Warning: Transactions In Both Chains
Bitpay also gives useful advice to bitcoin holders, in general, warning them that after the hard fork transactions might be included in both chains:
If you have a Bitcoin wallet and use Bitcoin during this period of uncertainty, you should assume that there will be a chain split and that any Bitcoin you send will be included in both chains. In addition, any Bitcoin you receive will be at a higher than normal risk of double spend.
Moreover, Bitpay urges users not to use the bitcoin network at all during and many hours after the hard fork, at block height 494,784, up until the matter is finally resolved.
Bitpay Services Will Be Suspended For 24-hours Or More
To make things clear, Bitpay says it will suspend all services for 24 hours or even more if the company deems that necessary.
“We will suspend payment acceptance, payment disbursement and debit card reloads approximately 24 hours prior to activation of Segwit2x — We are currently communicating with all of our affected users with preparation instructions.”
Bitpay: Current Chain Will Be “BC1” If Segwit2x Prevails
With regards to the naming in-fight, Bitpay plans to name the current bitcoin chain as "BC1", if the Segwit2X chain gets most proof of work. Otherwise, if the Segwit2X chain does not get enough accumulated difficulty, then it will call that chain as “BC2”.
If there is a chain split and the minority chain has value, as expected, Bitpay says it will give users access to these tokens.
In any case, Bitpay says it has “no plans to offer our services on the minority chain.”
Bitpay’s support of Segwit2x has already met backslash. A bitcoin developer, Nicolas Dorier, has announced a Bitpay compatible API to be used by those who oppose Segwit2X hard fork. Also, Trezor announced they would be replacing Bitpay exchange rates API in the Trezor web wallet. Satoshi Lab’s (Trezor) CTO, Pavol Rusnak, accused Bitpay of “playing games with the BTC ticker.”