A new statement published by popular cryptocurrency wallet provider Coinbase on its official blog reveals the company is set to start supporting the withdrawal of different bitcoin forks in the coming months.
Adding Support for Bitcoin Forks to Coinbasehttps://t.co/ovrcasB019 pic.twitter.com/UWKnGp7etA
— Coinbase (@coinbase) April 5, 2018
Different Bitcoin Forks
Recently, a large number of new Bitcoin Forks have appeared for various reasons, the most popular ones being Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin Diamond (BCD), and Bitcoin Gold (BTG). In its official announcement, Coinbase stated that it is not providing support for any specific asset yet.
There are a lot of factors to consider before making such a decision. The company assured its users that it won’t hide its choice once its made, as Coinbase’s website is set to provide information on any assets it decides to support.
Notably the company dealt with a few problems when it launched Bitcoin Cash support. Various investors believed the cryptocurrency’s rollout involved insider information that was used for insider trading. According to them, this information gave company’s employees a major advantage over everyone else. With this in their past, it is not surprising that Coinbase wants everything to be transparent and in accordance with their protocol.
Withdrawal Convenience
Withdrawing Bitcoin forks is set to become a lot more convenient once the company decides which ones it will be supporting. This as the company’s subsidiaries are also set to support projects deemed worthy.
A large corporation like Coinbase has quite a few subsidiaries. Among them: Coinbase Custody, GDAX, Coinbase Index Fund, and Coinbase Commerce. Many of these are already creating plans for developing and upgrading infrastructure that will follow Coinbase’s example. Providing support for Bitcoin forks will not be an easy task. The company reminded the crypto community that adding support for these tokens’ withdrawals does not mean that they are supporting trading for said asset.
The rapid creation of cryptocurrencies “airdropped” from hard forks is believed to have brought the crypto ecosystem a few problems. These problems involve potential brand confusion, as newcomers may not be able to understand why various cryptocurrencies are named “bitcoin”.