Hash Watch: The Highly Anticipated Bitcoin Cash Fork Is Now Complete
The Bitcoin Cash community has been patiently waiting for weeks for the November 15, 2020 upgrade and the day is finally here. Every six months the Bitcoin Cash network upgrades, but this time around, a conflict sparked over Bitcoin ABC’s Infrastructure Funding Plan (IFP). During the course of the day, the following editorial will be monitoring the Bitcoin Cash upgrade in real-time so our readers can be kept up to date.
**Last update 11/15/20 @ 2:19 p.m. EST**
Shortly after 12:00 p.m., UTC on November 15, 2020, Bitcoin Cash experienced a scheduled upgrade. Bitcoin Cash developers from various full node projects changed the Difficulty Adjustment Algorithm (DAA) to a new DAA called ‘aserti3-2d‘ (or ‘ASERT’ for short).
The aserti3-2d Github description details that people can get a “high-level description of the motivation and background” for ASERT by reading the programmer Jonathan Toomim’s read.cash article. Specifications for ASERT can be read here on the Bitcoin Cash upgrade specifications web portal.
As usual, Bitcoin Cash supporters watched the upgrade in real-time by leveraging the web portal Coin Dance. The website has maintained a countdown clock for the upgrade, information, and it displays three full node software clients in three separate sections. Additionally, the fork monitor operated by the derivatives exchange Bitmex has also been monitoring the fork.
The data shown on Coin Dance includes the full node clients’ Bitcoin Unlimited, Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN), and Bitcoin ABC. Coin Dance stats say BCH Unlimited 1.9.0.1 will follow the longest chain. Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN) 22.1.0 will follow the longest chain, unless the 10-block re-org protection is violated. Bitcoin ABC 0.22.4 will follow the chain that complies with the Infrastructure Funding Plan (IFP).
Because Bitcoin ABC stuck with implementing the IFP, it is expected to produce two incompatible networks. Every full node client, except for ABC’s IFP version, will be agreeing on the same rules. Bitcoin cash (BCH) users should see a smooth transition, but they may see an airdropped coin if miners decide to mine the ABC software that introduces the controversial IFP mechanism. At 9:12 a.m. EST, the last common block prior to the fork was mined at block height 661,647 by the mining pool Binance.
At approximately 6:55 a.m. EST, at Bitcoin Cash (BCH) block height 661,641 the upgrade was initiated. Following block 661,641, six more blocks needed to be mined for the upgrade to go live on the network. The last Bitcoin Cash common block was at block height 661,647 and was mined by Binance. At 9:20 a.m. EST, Block 661,648 was mined by the mining pool Antpool.
The live stream crypto show hosted by Collin Enstad will be broadcasting live today on November 15 with Mike Komaransky and the show will be covering the airdrop all day on Youtube with a number of special guests. A visual of the split at block height 661,648 via the Bitmex fork monitor.
News.Bitcoin.com readers can check out prior articles on this subject here, here, here, and this article here. Those editorials not only explain the situation at hand, but also wallet and exchange contingency plans. A number of wallets and exchanges plan to support both tokens in the event of a split, while other third-party services have revealed only supporting one side.
During the morning hours before fork activation, the crypto trading exchange Coinex changed the futures market from BCHN and BCHA to BCH and BCHA to represent the split. At the time of publication, spot prices for Bitcoin Cash (BCH) on Coinex are $243 per unit while ABC’s airdrop token is $15.82 per unit. On Poloniex the ABC airdrop is swapping for $14 against USDT pairs, and on Coinflex ABC is trading for $11 per unit.
Software developer Christ Troutner announced the launch of a website that hosts a splitting tool and the alpha web-based tool at splitbch.com will be available after the upgrade is settled. Troutner also published a demo of the splitbch splitting tool on Youtube. However, as of right now, at 10:37 a.m. EST, the ABC side of the fork has not seen a single mined block.
As of 10:28 a.m. EST, ten blocks have been mined under the new Bitcoin Cash consensus rules. There have been zero Bitcoin ABC blocks mined so far since the fork initiated after the last common block.
As of right now, there doesn’t seem to be a coin-split token for the ABC-IFP side with the chain showing zero functionality. (10:37 a.m. EST). Twelve BCH blocks under the new consensus rules have been mined at this time. With no split, it means that BCH simply upgraded and a node fell out of consensus. A valid block has to be mined for the ABC-IFP side to continue as a viable chain.
At approximately 12:33 p.m. EST, the ABC-IFP side has two mined blocks while the BCH chain is 20 blocks ahead. According to stats, an unknown miner has mined block 661,648 and 661,649 on the ABC-IFP side. This means there was a split, but people will have to continue monitoring the airdrop (ABC-IFP side) to see if the chain remains functional over time.
** 2:19 p.m. EST Update ** So far there are approximately three ABC-IFP blocks mined, while Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is 27 blocks ahead. According to the Redditor u/grmpfpff, an unknown mining pool dubbed “very good mining pool” is mining the ABC-IFP side of the fork. “The miner needed almost 2 hours to find block 661,668, then one hour to find block 661,669,” the post details. “Difficulty on that side of the fork is slowly decreasing as a logical result, from 226446058610.77 at block 661,667 to 220458728602.59 at block 661,669,” the Redditor added.
The Reddit post concludes by noting the BCH community will have to wait and see if: “the unknown pool continues mining alone, if more pools will switch over or if the miner stops and the chain freezes as a result.” Meanwhile, the Bitcoin Cash community has been celebrating the upgrade and smooth transition in a number of other posts on r/btc.
The top post on Reddit this afternoon is called “A Historic Moment for Bitcoin Cash and Crypto” and many BCH fans believe they are victorious.
“Today all participants of the BCH ecosystem should be extremely proud,” writes the Redditor u/BU-BCH on Sunday’s top r/btc post. “Bitcoin Cash has done something no other cryptocurrency ecosystem has achieved. We have managed to not only successfully reject a corruption of the protocol, but also removed power from a centralized development team and rejected a centralized ‘official’ (not official) website. Bitcoin Cash is now stronger, more unified and more decentralised than ever before.”
What do you think about the completion of the Bitcoin Cash upgrade and the split? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. 300 Banks in Germany Charge Negative Interest Rates Including Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, ING NEWS | 1 hour ago Ripple Forced To Rebrand PayID Trademark After Copyright Infringement Lawsuit NEWS | 20 hours ago Tags in this story ASERT, Aserti3-2d, BCH, BCH.info, BCHN, Bitcoin ABC, bitcoin cash, Bitcoin Unlimited, Bitmex Fork Monitor, block height 661641, blockchain split, Chain Split, Coin Dance, Coin Dance Monitor, DAA, Fork, IFP, infrastructure funding plan, Miners, Six Blocks
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