After 4:40 PM GMT (11:40 AM ET) on November 15th, the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) blockchain will undergo a hard fork and BitGo will be supporting the ABC chain, which is believed to be the dominant chain.

November 15th, 2018: Review our real-time updates of the hard fork.

We recommend ceasing transaction activity in and out of all Bitcoin Cash wallets two hours prior to the fork, at approximately 2:40 PM GMT (9:40 AM ET) in order to ensure safekeeping of funds.

Understanding the Bitcoin Cash hard fork

Twice a year, the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) blockchain undergoes a hard fork which integrates scheduled protocol upgrades. Optimally, these hard fork upgrades go unnoticed and the BCH blockchain continues on.

This time was different; the community was not able to reach consensus on the direction of BCH and as a result, the BCH blockchain is expected to fork into two separate chains.

The two disagreeing groups are a coalition supporting a prospective chain called Bitcoin ABC (ABC), and a group led by NChain supporting a prospective chain called Bitcoin Satoshi’s Vision (SV). There is possibility for a third chain, in which some network participants continue with the pre-fork Bitcoin Cash rule set.

  • ABC fork introduces non-backwards compatible protocol upgrades including two new operation codes and canonical transaction ordering

  • SV fork will restore more legacy operation codes and increase the maximum block size

Strong early sentiment indicates that ABC will be the more valuable chain with greatest hash support. Believed to be the dominant chain, BitGo custody and wallets will support ABC.

How BitGo will handle the hard fork

BitGo will shut down receiving and sending of transactions from Bitcoin Cash wallets for at least two hours starting at 4:40 PM GMT (11:40 AM ET). API users wanting to transact immediately after the hard fork will need to pass the ‘unsafeSplit’ flag on sending attempts to acknowledge the risk of their transactions being replayed to the Bitcoin SV chain. This requirement will be lifted when BitGo deems it safe. If decoupling of funds on the respective chains will be required, it may remain in place until replay-protection is implemented.

Questions or concerns? Please contact support@bitgo.com

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.

©2025 BitGo Inc. (collectively with its affiliates and subsidiaries, “BitGo”). All rights reserved. BitGo Trust Company, Inc., BitGo Inc., and BitGo Prime LLC are separately operated, wholly-owned subsidiaries of BitGo Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, CA. No legal, tax, investment, or other advice is provided by any BitGo entity. Please consult your legal/tax/investment professional for questions about your specific circumstances. Digital asset holdings involve a high degree of risk, and can fluctuate greatly on any given day. Accordingly, your digital asset holdings may be subject to large swings in value and may even become worthless. The information provided herein is not intended for distribution to, or use by, any person or entity in any jurisdiction or country where such distribution or use would be contrary to law or regulation. BitGo is not directing this information to any person in any jurisdiction where the publication or availability of the information is prohibited, by reason of that person’s citizenship, residence or otherwise.