In a reversal of events which is pretty much exactly the opposite of what they said in an email a few days before the hard Fork, Coinbase is now getting ready to support Bitcoin Cash.
I received an email earlier today which explains their position on why they didn't want to originally add an asset to their site based on how difficult it is to do.
However, they must have received quite an angry barrage of opinions from people who were mad that Coinbase essentially cost them money.
Exactly one week ago Coinbase said....
In the event of two separate blockchains after August 1, 2017 we will only support one version. We have no plans to support the Bitcoin Cash fork. We have made this decision because it is hard to predict how long the alternative version of bitcoin will survive and if Bitcoin Cash will have future market value.
Source: Giphy.com
Today, just a few hours ago, I received an email that said....
Both bitcoin and bitcoin cash remain safely stored on Coinbase.
Customers with balances of bitcoin at the time of the fork now have an equal quantity of bitcoin cash stored by Coinbase.
We operate by the general principle that our customers should benefit to the greatest extent possible from hard forks or other unexpected events.
Over the last several days, we’ve examined all of the relevant issues and have decided to work on adding support for bitcoin cash for Coinbase customers. We made this decision based on factors such as the security of the network, customer demand, trading volumes, and regulatory considerations.
I guess Coinbase didn't really expected Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash to both do well.
It is very possible that Bitcoin Cash will start to bottom out.
Whether or not it does Coinbase customers are not capable of selling theirs yet because it is not available to them.
The email that I received though states that their customers actually do have Bitcoin Cash it just isn't listed as an asset on their site.
In a surprising move they actually do intend to list it as an asset on their site.
It looks like the Bitcoin hard Fork has multiple different outcomes, many of which were completely unexpected by the general public.
I have to say....... Good for you Coinbase.
Supporting both means supporting your customers.
That is definitely a good choice.
