Client voting has commenced on cryptocurrency exchange HitBTC until Tuesday, April 4th on how to handle the event of a Bitcoin hard fork.
Last month, the European-based exchange promised that in the case of a hard fork not taking place before March 31st, voting would be arranged to allow users to define the potential future of BTC and BTU processing on the platform.
A couple of weeks ago the exchange introduced a BTU/BTC trading pair and said then it would freeze withdrawals for 48 hours in a fork.
The three possible voting options going forward are listed below:
Option #1: wait a week longer.
BTC withdrawals remain locked;
You receive BTU while depositing BTC;
BTU arbitrage opportunities are at your disposal;
In case hardfork happens before April 7th, BTC and BTU withdrawals will be unlocked;
In case the hard fork is delayed, you will face this voting again.
Briefly: wait and do nothing.
Option #2: enable BTC + BTU withdrawals
You’re able to withdraw BTC, but you have to possess an equal amount of BTU on your account. When you withdraw BTC, the equal amount of BTU will be subtracted from your account.
Explanation:
You have 1 BTC and 1 BTU – you can withdraw 1 BTC, and 1 BTU will disappear from your account;
You have 1 BTC and 0.5 BTU – you can only withdraw 0.5 BTC, and 0.5 BTU will disappear. You should buy more BTU to withdraw the rest, equalizing the amounts of BTU and BTC;
You have 1 BTU and 0.5 BTC – you should sell part of your BTU in order to get an equal amount of BTC and BTU on the account.
You continue to receive BTU while depositing BTC;
If hardfork happens, you will be able to withdraw BTC and BTU separately, no matter how many BTC and BTU you have on the account.
Briefly: it’s possible to withdraw as many BTC, as you have BTU.
Option #3: turn BTU into Ethereum tokens
You’re able to withdraw BTC without limitations;
Your BTU is turned into tokens based on Ethereum. Volume of emission will be two times more than the total volume of BTU;
You don’t receive new tokens while depositing BTC;
By trading these tokens you support Bitcoin Unlimited project: for every traded token one goes to them;
Explanation: Should this option win the vote, we are going to contact Bitcoin Unlimited and settle this. We’re planning to transfer eventually 50% of these tokens to Bitcoin Unlimited project. You can participate in this by trading.
You’re able to withdraw these tokens to your Ethereum wallet;
Should the hard fork happen, you will not receive BTU coins (BTU token is not connected with BTU coin).
Briefly: make BTC and BTU withdrawable and support Bitcoin Unlimited.
In summary, see the table below:
| Option | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| BTC withdrawals active? | No | Yes (with the same amount of BTU) | Yes |
| Do I receive BTU when I deposit BTC? | Yes | Yes | No |
| In case hardfork happens, can I withdraw BTU? | Yes | Yes | No (you can only withdraw tokens) |
| Can I trade BTU? | Yes | Yes | Yes (you will be trading tokens) |
Out of a small sample size from feedback on the company website, option 1 and 2 both received two votes, while option 3 received the most votes with sixteen.