Bitcoin ABC developers officially announced this week that the Bitcoin Cash network will be having a hard fork on May 15. The development team also made available the codebase for the client Bitcoin ABC 0.17.0 along with the newly added consensus rules.

Another Fork this Spring

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Bitcoin cash will undergo another fork on May 15, 2018, and the protocol’s consensus procedures will be adjusted in time as the fork goes forward. The fork was highly anticipated as the lead developer at Bitcoin ABC, Amaury Séchet revealed intentions for this fork a few months ago.

Séchet said that it would be easier to fork after the new year and gave reasons why the fork would happen. This week the ABC development team has launched the 0.17.0 version which has the code that can change the consensus rules of the Bitcoin Cash network.

The activation is scheduled on May 15 but no block height has been specified for this hard fork. Similar to the creation of BCH, and the recent fork in November, consensus rules will be modified after the “Median Time Past” (MTP) system.

On May 15 at 12:00:00 UTC, 2018 when the MTP happens with last 11 blocks equal to or greater than 1,526,400,000, the very following block will start the hard fork.

A 32 Megabyte Block Size Increase

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The development team details that anyone who runs on an ABC node should upgrade at once to the 0.17.0 release. Regarding other clients, ABC developers said they cannot speak in the name of the other implementation teams, but ABC has discussed with them.

“Bitcoin ABC is currently testing both the new rules and their activation — a testnet should be available soon,”said Bitcoin ABC. The latest announcement also gives details about the important modifications within the new software.

“The most notable change is the increase of the maximum block size to 32 MB — There are also several bitcoin script operation codes (op-codes) being added or reactivated. “

No Post- Fork Worries

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The developers also revealed that they are in talks with major exchanges and wallet providers regarding the May 15th upgrade. The team underlines that the community help make this process go more smoothly by communicating with infrastructure providers.

The last upgrade from November 2017, caused no problems or complications for the Bitcoin Cash network, and the Difficulty Algorithm Adjustment (DAA) consensus alterations have preserved a stable mining difficulty.

It seems that the BCH community does not fear hard forks based on the network’s prior experience. Supporters are actually looking forward to a 32 MB block size upgrade and op-code additions that could improve the network.