Coinbase to Enable Ethereum Classic Withdrawals

Coinbase wallet and exchange users will soon be able to withdraw classic ethers.

The San Francisco exchange announced today that it intends to let users access and withdraw classic ether balances, a move that comes amid a minor outcry over how the exchange should handle the currency's sudden creation.

While a number of exchanges have moved to support ethereum classic in recent weeks, Coinbase quickly emerged as a voice of caution, noting again today it does not want to offer trading in both ethereum and ethereum classic.

Complicating matters was that, due to the specifics of how the ethereum blockchain split, Coinbase has found itself the de-facto holder of customer funds in a currency it never sought to support.

Though Coinbase gave no specific date for the ETC release, it said it was moving "swiftly" to provide the functionality.

Coinbase said in a statement:

"It is important to us that our customers trust Coinbase to safeguard digital currency assets. Therefore, Coinbase customers will be credited the full amount of ETC associated with their account. We are working as swiftly as possible to create a simple process which will allow users to send an ETC credit to an off-platform ETC address of your choosing."

The company reiterated that, at this stage, it isn’t planning to enable trading or storage services for ETC, and released a similar statement outlining how it would enable ETC withdrawals for exchange customers.

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Coinbase.

Image via Office Snapshothttps://officesnapshots.com/2016/03/15/coinbase-offices-san-francisco/