Shortly after 13:00 today, Greek time, Bitcoin split into two, and thus the Bitcoin Cash, an alternative currency, in a chain division predicted months ago.
The split is called "hard fork", although at the last minute it seemed to be avoided, eventually came from the desire of a bitcoin team to combat high transaction fees and a 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 in a platform Bitcoin Cash or in a digital wallet. Each platform treats the new Bitcoin Cash differently. To enjoy this extra currency, you should check your platform and wallet to see what the company's policy is.
As a precursor to the separation, Bitcoin trading platforms, such as the CEX.io, suspended Bitcoin withdrawals in advance. CEX.io will allow both cryptocurrencies and distribute the amounts to its customers. CEX.io CEO Eugene Kovalyk says: “Whether we will register Bitcoin Cash as the new trading currency depends on demand. If the demand is high we should consider adding it for sure… No one should lose Bitcoin Cash on our platform ".
Meanwhile, the world's most popular encryption exchange, Coinbase, has rejected the new Bitcoin Cash because of some customers' suspicions. He argues that their systems can not support Bitcoin Cash without a major revision of their system that is currently not worth the unknown value of Bitcoin Cash. The exchange allowed for a short period of time before 1th of August, for users who wished to access Bitcoin Cash, withdraw their funds from Coinbase.
