Bitstamp Gives Users Bitcoin Cash But ‘Postpones’ Trading Indefinitely

Bitstamp has given users with Bitcoins in August their equivalent balance in Bitcoin Cash, but trading is not starting.
Bitstamp has given users with Bitcoins in August their equivalent balance in Bitcoin Cash, but trading is not starting.

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp has credited users with Bitcoin Cash, while announcing it will postpone trading “until further notice.”

The latest major exchange to credit wallets with the equivalent balance in BCH, Bitstamp beat major wallet Blockchain.info which is set to follow suit by the end of October.

Users with coins on Bitstamp Aug. 1st have now received BCH equivalent to that amount.

“[...] We have now distributed corresponding Bitcoin Cash (BCH) balances to those of our customers who chose to leave their BTC on our platform at the time of the fork. An equal quantity of BCH is now available for withdrawal,” the exchange confirmed in a blog post as well as on Twitter Wednesday.

"The timing of the move coincides with a reversal in fortunes for BCH, which plummeted following the market upheaval begun by China banning Bitcoin-to-fiat trading."

Users can today claim around $450 per BCH, while exchanges and wallets quicker to support the fork treated users to significantly higher rates.

At the same time, community attention has more recently shifted away from BCH to focus on the impending SegWit2x hard fork, due at the start of November.

Increasing publicity is coming from industry figures such as Blockstream CEO Adam Back surrounding the aims of SegWit2x supporters.

Meanwhile, fellow wallet provider Xapo has told its users that they must withdraw their new BCH balances by Dec. 14.