Coinbase and Bitcoin Cash have had a storied past in relation to hard forks. While BCH is itself a fork of the original Bitcoin code, sometimes called Bitcoin Core, first launched in August 2017, the U.S. exchange floundered in getting the currency properly listed.
In the hours leading up to the Bitcoin Cash launch on the exchange, which at the time was only known internally to company employees, the price of BCH nearly doubled and brought a screeching halt to Coinbase’s trading platform in the chaos that followed the listing.
While 2018 has continued to be a bearish year for cryptocurrency, investors are looking to the recent price of Bitcoin Cash as possible indication that a revival is on the horizon.
Bitcoin Cash, the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, started trading on the morning of Nov. 4th at $473 before skyrocketing 22 percent to reach a relative high of $573 on the day. As of writing, the coin has settled back to $550, but showing significant price stability that may manage to hold onto gains in the aftermath of the bullish uptick. Much of the excitement surrounding Bitcoin Cash has been over Nov. 15th’s hard fork, thereby earning free coins for investors who hold the coin at the time of the split.
However, this past weekend brought about news that Coinbase, a U.S. based cryptocurrency exchange with over 13 million users–and offers Bitcoin Cash among its select cryptocurrency offering–would be joining leading exchange Binance in supporting the fork. The combined support of two major exchanges, in addition to the readiness for investors to turn back the tide of this year’s bear market, set the spark that ignited BCH’s massive 24 hour leap in price.
The Coinbase update is going to bring a halt to BCH trading during the time of the fork, with the support team telling customers.
“We will pause sends and receives on the BCH wallets at Coinbase.com, in our iOS and Android apps, and at Coinbase Pro and Prime beginning at 8:00AM PST on 11/15/2018 (approximately 1 hour before the fork). Please be sure all BCH sends and receives are completed prior to that time.”
Since that time, Coinbase has had to contend with numerous accusations of foul play, mostly centered around insider trading. Investors have claimed that Coinbase employees or their peers were able to capitalize on the inside knowledge of when the listing would occur, thereby buying into the coin ahead of the launch.
In July, Coinbase released the results of an internal investigation, finding no evidence of insider trading or inappropriate investing by employees and their friends and family. Just two weeks ago EWN reported on a recent insider trading lawsuit against Coinbase being dropped by a U.S. judge, who claimed the company had done all it was capable of to prevent market manipulation.
While most of the price movement is in anticipation of freshly minted coins in the aftermath of the fork, BCH’s bullish run has managed to inject some excitement back into the cryptomarkets. As of writing, XRP has jumped 10 percent on the day, with most of the altcoin market trading in the green.