Coinbase, America’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced its plans to end support for Bitcoin SV (BSV) on its platform.
This decision comes more than two years after the exchange initially delisted BSV from trading.
According to the announcement, Coinbase will cease to support the BSV asset as of early next year, and users are urged to take action before January 9, 2024, to safeguard their holdings.
The notice stated, “Users are able to withdraw BSV funds until support for the asset is deprecated on January 9, 2024, at or around 12 p.m. ET. If you fail to withdraw your BSV funds, Coinbase will liquidate any remaining BSV remaining in your Coinbase account.”
Coinbase further mentioned that the liquidated funds would be converted into the cash equivalent market value of another digital asset, with a warning that they may be subject to tax liability.
This move by Coinbase is not entirely unexpected, as the exchange had previously delisted BSV in 2021. The decision to remove BSV from its trading offerings was driven by concerns over the blockchain’s stability, primarily due to a “51% attack” that the network suffered. Despite the delisting, Coinbase allowed users to retain their BSV holdings within their wallets on the platform.
Shortly after the news went public, BSV slipped in value slightly and dipped below $50.
Bitcoin SV, often called Satoshi’s Vision, emerged in November 2018 due to a hard fork of Bitcoin Cash, a spin-off of the original Bitcoin blockchain. Currently ranked as the 53rd largest digital asset with a market capitalization of $967 million, according to CoinGecko data, Bitcoin SV has a unique and somewhat controversial origin.
The cryptocurrency’s developers claim that BSV is the “original Bitcoin,” with “SV” standing for “Satoshi’s Vision.” Such hard forks, where a blockchain splits into two, can occur due to upgrades or disputes among network developers. The cryptocurrency landscape has witnessed numerous Bitcoin forks, but BSV stands out as one of the most prominent and well-known alternatives.
Notably, Bitcoin SV has gotten support from Australian computer scientist Craig Wright, who has made unverified claims of being Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. Wright’s aggressive stance, including legal cases against exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken that questioned his identity, has contributed to the delisting of BSV on various platforms.