Bitcoin Cash has already been a disruptive force within the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency ecosystem. The number of exchanges planning to credit BCH to their users has increased, which is a good sign. However, the number of platforms trading Bitcoin Cash is not necessarily growing. The upcoming Bitcoin hard fork leaves a lot of room for speculation and confusion until the fork effectively happens.
Exchanges Support Bitcoin Cash, Sort of
Not too long ago, we touched upon the topic of which major exchanges had plans to support Bitcoin Cash. At that time, the list was still pretty small and a lot of platforms had yet to render a final decision on the matter. We now have gained some valuable insights as to which platforms will not only credit BCH but trade the currency as well. It is quite interesting to note how very few platforms will seemingly support both for the time being.
It is good to see more exchanges acknowledge that they will successfully credit user account balances. Exchanges have a responsibility to do so, since a lot of Bitcoin holders keep their funds stored on trading platforms for some unknown reason. Doing so for longer periods of time is not the best course of action, and exchanges are not your average Bitcoin wallets by any means.
Struggling to keep track of which exchanges support #BitcoinCash? This table helps break it down. Many exchanges crediting, but not listing pic.twitter.com/90e6shHtiD
— Crypto Facilities (@CryptoFLtd) July 29, 2017
For those people who prefer to keep money in an exchange, now is a good time to determine whether your platform will automatically credit your account accordingly. Contrary to what some people may think, this list is still relatively small. Major exchanges including Bitstamp, Coinbase, GDAX, and ItBit will not automatically credit accounts with Bitcoin Cash. If you have funds on any of these platforms and want your BCH tokens automatically, you’ll need to withdraw your bitcoins to a secure wallet of which only you control the private key.
Gemini has stated they would “try” to credit accounts, although their official stance has yet to be determined. Poloniex is also a “maybe” for now, which will continue to upset a lot of platform users. Kraken has come around and stated that they will issue BCH tokens to all Bitcoin users on its platform. Kraken will also allow the trading of this altcoin, which is positive news in general. Note that not every exchange supporting BCH crediting will enable trading right away.
Bitfinex will potentially enable trading, but not before the fork effectively happens. Gemini has no plans to trade the currency either, whereas OKCoin has yet to render an official statement on the matter. The same applies to BTCC and Quoine, since neither company has acknowledged they would trade Bitcoin Cash anytime soon. It is disturbing for most people to own tokens which must first be transferred off an exchange in order to be traded.
The exchanges that will trade Bitcoin Cash have grown in number as well. Kraken, Huobi, OKEx, Bithumb, and Bittrex have all confirmed they will trade this currency in the near future. That is a sizable collection of platforms. One lingering question is whether or not BTC-E will partake in this token issuance and trading. It seems rather unlikely they will be playing any significant role in the future.
