Shortly after 13: 00 today in Greece, Bitcoin was split into two, and so the Bitcoin Cash, an alternative cryptocurrency, in a division of chains that was predicted months ago.
The split is called "hard fork", although at the last minute it seemed to be avoided, it finally happened and comes from the desire of one teams bitcoin to combat high transaction fees and one maximum bitcoin size limit which rendered the larger blocks unusable.
This has a subtle impact on Bitcoin owners. If you have Bitcoin and control your private keys, the same private keys can also be used to spend your Bitcoin Cash.
If you own Bitcoin but do not control the keys then it depends on whether you have chosen to keep your bitcoins on a Bitcoin Cash platform or digital wallet. Each platform treats the new Bitcoin Cash differently. To enjoy this extra currency, you need to check your platform and wallet to see what the company policy is.
As a precursor to the separation, Bitcoin trading platforms, such as the CEX.io, they suspended Bitcoin withdrawals in advance. CEX.io will allow both cryptocurrencies and split the amounts to its customers. The CEO of CEX.io, Eugene Kovalyk, states: “Whether we list Bitcoin Cash as a new trading currency depends on demand. If the demand is high we should consider adding it for sure... No one should miss out on Bitcoin Cash on our platform.”
Meanwhile, the world's most popular crypto exchange, Coinbase, rejected the new Bitcoin Cash due to the suspicion of some customers. He argues that their systems cannot support Bitcoin Cash without a major overhaul of their system which is currently not worth it for the unknown value of Bitcoin Cash. The exchange allowed a short time space before 1th of August, for users who wanted to access Bitcoin Cash, to withdraw their money from Coinbase.