What is a hard fork and how does Bitvavo handle them?

A hard fork is a change in the software of a crypto, which could lead to different sorts of crypto. If a blockchain ‘forks’, the previous blockchain has been split. Ideally all users continue to only use one of the chains and do not support the other. If both of them are still supported, two new crypto with the same history have been created.

Example

An example of a hard fork where both chains were supported is the Bitcoin/Bitcoin Cash fork.

How does Bitvavo handle a hard fork ?

Even though Bitvavo would like to support every hard fork, this is unfortunately not possible from a security and technical point of view. Because of this, Bitvavo checks on a case by case basis whether a hard fork can be safely supported. If you want to stay up to date with which hard forks Bitvavo supports, make sure you are subscribed to the newsletter.