BitGo’s Approach to the Upcoming BCH and ETH Hard Forks
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Update: Ethereum’s Istanbul Hard Fork
The block height for Ethereum’s Istanbul hard fork is 9069000.BitGo will disable all Ethereum services 30 minutes prior to the fork and restore the services 30 minutes after the fork.All deposits made to wallets while the services are disabled will be reflected on the wallet balance once the services are restored.
We highly recommend that clients do not send transactions or generate wallets and addresses during the downtime.If an API call is run during the downtime the calls will be queued and processed once the services are restored. Some API calls may return an error. The type of the error will vary based on the API call.
All BitGo services will remain operational during the BCH fork while BitGo disables Ethereum services for 30 minutes prior to and after the Ethereum fork. Any changes to the schedule or approaches outlined below will be reflected on this blog post via an update.
Bitcoin Cash Hard Fork
The upcoming Bitcoin Cash hard fork is scheduled for November 15, 2019. All of BitGo’s Bitcoin Cash services will remain operational during this fork.
Ethereum’s Istanbul Hard Fork
December 4, 2019 is the target date for Ethereum’s Istanbul hard fork which is expected to occur at block number 9069000. BitGo will disable all Ethereum services 30 minutes prior to the fork to ensure a smooth transition. BitGo’s Ethereum services will be restored 30 minutes after the fork.
The Ethereum developer community has nominated January 8, 2020 as a backup date, should the hard fork be postponed. You can read more about the date and purpose of this fork on CoinDesk.
Be sure to check back for updates on this post as we get closer to the dates of the two forks.
About BitGo
BitGo is the leading infrastructure provider of digital asset solutions, delivering custody, wallets, staking, trading, financing, and settlement services from regulated cold storage. Since our founding in 2013, we have focused on enabling our clients to securely navigate the digital asset space. With a large global presence through multiple regulated entities, BitGo serves thousands of institutions, including many of the industry's top brands, exchanges, and platforms, as well as millions of retail investors worldwide. As the operational backbone of the digital economy, BitGo handles a significant portion of Bitcoin network transactions and is the largest independent digital asset custodian, and staking provider, in the world. For more information, visit www.bitgo.com.
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