Blockchain Prediction Platform Augur Launches V2 on July 28

Blockchain-powered event betting company Augur says that users of its REP cryptocurrency need to migrate their tokens once a new version of the platform is available starting July 28.

According to an announcement posted to the platform’s website on June 29, Augur v2 will launch on the Ethereum (ETH) mainnet at the end of next month. This means that REP token holders need to manually migrate their coins to the new version, REPv2. Augur stated that current tokens will be renamed “REPv1” to lessen any confusion.

‘Use it or lose it’ says platform

In addition, the company said the release of Augur v2 would require all REP token holders to participate in any forking, should it occur. Those who fail to do so within 60 days will have their holdings “forever unable to participate in any of the forked and future universes of Augur.” 

However, the platform emphasized that no immediate action was required. According to Augur, forking is “intended to be an extremely rare event.” At the time of the announcement, it would cost Augur more than $9 million, making the new tokens “presumably worthless.”

The platform’s native REP token — now REPv1 — ranks 44th by market cap and is trading at $16.77.

Prediction model used for US elections

Augur is a predictions market that uses smart contracts to let users create and bet on the outcome of any event using ETH. The platform came under fire in 2019 from having an apparent design flaw which may have allowed some users to run scams by settling their bets on the outcome of events before they may have concluded.

In particular, the market for the United States 2018 Midterm Elections exhibited a total volume of more than $3 million on the question of which party — Democrat or Republican — would control the House of Representatives. The market settlement date was nearly four weeks before any changes in leadership were effective.