If Bitcoin forks on 1st August, which fork would my coins end up on?

[crypto33]

I really dont understand too much about what could happen after a fork in the blockchain. I'm not asking for speculation (as if we knew that we would all be multi millionaires). But if BTC did fork what would happen to the coins I'm holding?

Would I have coins on both forks? Or would I have to choose which fork to move them to?

Like I said, Im no expert but I want to be as prepared as possible for 1st August.

Thanks

[jaberwock]

If you hold the private keys, then in both. The blockchain won't be changed until the fork time, so you will have the same coins in the other fork too.

But if you use a service that don't allow you to get private key(exchanges, online wallets, casinos, etc...) you probably will get nothing.

[crypto33]

If you hold the private keys, then in both. The blockchain won't be changed until the fork time, so you will have the same coins in the other fork too.

But if you use a service that don't allow you to get private key(exchanges, online wallets, casinos, etc...) you probably will get nothing.

Ok great, yes I hold the private keys so it shouldnt be a problem. So I effectivly dont need to do anything? just sit back and see what happens?

Thanks for getting back to me

[Red-Apple]

that is the case only if a split happens not a fork. all forks don't lead to a split no matter if it is a hard fork or a soft fork.

and in case a split happens and two chains exist simultaneously then if you keep your coins in your wallet and don't plan on spending them you have nothing to worry about.
the problems are only for when you plan on spending.

[jaberwock]

If you hold the private keys, then in both. The blockchain won't be changed until the fork time, so you will have the same coins in the other fork too.

But if you use a service that don't allow you to get private key(exchanges, online wallets, casinos, etc...) you probably will get nothing.

Ok great, yes I hold the private keys so it shouldnt be a problem. So I effectivly dont need to do anything? just sit back and see what happens?

Thanks for getting back to me

You would have to import the private key in the fork wallet software of course, or follow whatever instruction they give. Nothing to do before that.

[crypto33]

that is the case only if a split happens not a fork. all forks don't lead to a split no matter if it is a hard fork or a soft fork.

and in case a split happens and two chains exist simultaneously then if you keep your coins in your wallet and don't plan on spending them you have nothing to worry about.
the problems are only for when you plan on spending.

Sorry this might sound a little stupid but what is the difference between a split and a fork? And also what would I have to do if a split occured and I then wanted to spend my coins?

Im guessing I couldnt spend the same coins on both splits as that would means I've doubled my money. Sorry im just trying to wrap my head around it

[jaberwock]

that is the case only if a split happens not a fork. all forks don't lead to a split no matter if it is a hard fork or a soft fork.

and in case a split happens and two chains exist simultaneously then if you keep your coins in your wallet and don't plan on spending them you have nothing to worry about.
the problems are only for when you plan on spending.

If the new coin will have no relation with the old blockchain, then it will be only another altcoin, not a fork.

I think all the hard forks happen with a split, by deffinetion;

[Red-Apple]

Sorry this might sound a little stupid but what is the difference between a split and a fork? And also what would I have to do if a split occured and I then wanted to spend my coins?

Im guessing I couldnt spend the same coins on both splits as that would means I've doubled my money. Sorry im just trying to wrap my head around it

there is no stupid questions
a fork is like a change in the code. like an upgrade. in a decentralized network like bitcoin the whole network has to agree to that change. if they all do (or at least the overwhelming majority agree) then the change will happen smoothly and there won't be anyone left on the old one.
example: the last hard fork bitcoin had years ago to fix a bug.

but if the majority don't agree with the change and many stay on the old one and many go on the new one then the two forks will exist side by side and the split happens.
example: ethereum fork which led to ETH and ETC.

i am not sure about what to do so if i am wrong i hope someone corrects the following:
the problem is the replay attack. when you spend coins on one chain the transaction is valid on the other chain so it will be spent on the other chain also.
in order to fix that i think the best way is this:
create different addresses and send funds to each of them on different chains.

Address1 has funds pre split
you make Address2 and Address3 they are all valid on both chains.
send funds to Address2 on chain1
send the same funds to Address3 on chain2
if these two transactions are confirmed on different correct chains your funds are safely on different chains and can not cross path. because Address2 is empty on chain2 and Address3 is empty on chain1 and your Address1 is now empty too. (by empty i mean the transaction output is now spent and can not be spent again)

whether you double your money depends on how the price will react.

I think all the hard forks happen with a split, by deffinetion;

i think you may be confusing backward compatibility with split and fork.

[alani123]

Make sure that you're not holding your coins in a wallet that doesn't give you access to private keys. This is especially important if you're looking to prepare for scenarios like the ones mentioned in OP. While unlikely, it'd be possible for services where you're holding coins at to not give you access to certain token created after a chain split.

[lizardbtc]

Sorry this might sound a little stupid but what is the difference between a split and a fork? And also what would I have to do if a split occured and I then wanted to spend my coins?

Im guessing I couldnt spend the same coins on both splits as that would means I've doubled my money. Sorry im just trying to wrap my head around it

A fork is a tearm that is used to describe that the code base is changed and that old one is not valid anymore but rather everyone needs to use new version. It is like an upgrade. You can look at this like when you are updating your online game.

Chain split : if some people don't want to fork to SegWit they can try to do a chain split. What is this? Simply as all transactions are ordered into blocks so the party that want to do a chain split will say from block number xxxx we are doing a split. Which means that they will order transactions how they like it, while other half will put transactions in a different order. So we have like a root (ordinary chain) that splits into 2 different ones with different transactions. Thats why if you have a private key you wouldn't have a problem as you could spent your coins on both chains as the principle of public/private keys are same on both of them.

Spending your coins during the split : 1st you don't know if other party is using the same software (one with SegWit and other one) so they might not receive the coins if they are using other chain that you are using  , specially if you got one transaction on the 2nd chain but it is not viable/confirmed on the other one which leads to a different order of the transactions ; you can en up having 2btc on the 2nd chain but you have 0.1 in the 1st one for instance. Of course there is a chance in this case that the chain with bigger support wins so that the other one disappears leaving the confirmed transactions that were confirmed there to be lost.

Thats why it is not advised to initiate transactions until we know for sure that it is sorted out. Theres no question there fork will be done, just look at ETH and ETC , ETHs devs done the split and rolled back the chain and they are right after BTC now in terms of market cap. So if you are here for a long term you shouldn't worry about anything just don't try to send your coins.

[fortunecrypto]

If you hold the private keys, then in both. The blockchain won't be changed until the fork time, so you will have the same coins in the other fork too.

But if you use a service that don't allow you to get private key(exchanges, online wallets, casinos, etc...) you probably will get nothing.

So it's recommended to withdraw all your bitcoin to your wallet where you have access to your private key so by before that date comes so before that date many online exchanges will experience massive withdrawal or it's much better to trade your bitcoin to other exchange then trade it back to bitcoin once everything is settled.

[bamboylee]

If you hold the private keys, then in both. The blockchain won't be changed until the fork time, so you will have the same coins in the other fork too.

But if you use a service that don't allow you to get private key(exchanges, online wallets, casinos, etc...) you probably will get nothing.

So it's recommended to withdraw all your bitcoin to your wallet where you have access to your private key so by before that date comes so before that date many online exchanges will experience massive withdrawal or it's much better to trade your bitcoin to other exchange then trade it back to bitcoin once everything is settled.

This is possible but for me it is better if you store it in fiat rather than an altcoin. Altcoin might be affected by the bitcoin price going down as well and alts price go down. But if it is in fiat, if the price of bitcoin move down, your fiat is not affected, it can even purchase more bitcoin.

[Victorycoin]

Make sure that you're not holding your coins in a wallet that doesn't give you access to private keys. This is especially important if you're looking to prepare for scenarios like the ones mentioned in OP. While unlikely, it'd be possible for services where you're holding coins at to not give you access to certain token created after a chain split.

First op needs to be put through that 2 distinct activities with 2 distinct dates are involved in the Bitcoin Scaling Agreement. First is that come August 1st, a soft fork (segwit) would take place and one does not necessarily have to do anything, because segwit is backwards compatible to almost all wallets. Six months later comes the hard fork, which is much of what op is asking to know. As he must have read, that would entail a change in code base and the nodes shall be required to upgrade their software to be compatible. That is when where your coins are, becomes an issue.  

[Sniper44]

If you hold the private keys, then in both. The blockchain won't be changed until the fork time, so you will have the same coins in the other fork too.

But if you use a service that don't allow you to get private key(exchanges, online wallets, casinos, etc...) you probably will get nothing.

So it's recommended to withdraw all your bitcoin to your wallet where you have access to your private key so by before that date comes so before that date many online exchanges will experience massive withdrawal or it's much better to trade your bitcoin to other exchange then trade it back to bitcoin once everything is settled.

This is possible but for me it is better if you store it in fiat rather than an altcoin. Altcoin might be affected by the bitcoin price going down as well and alts price go down. But if it is in fiat, if the price of bitcoin move down, your fiat is not affected, it can even purchase more bitcoin.

that is correct. if you look at some of the price histories of the altcoins and match it with bitcoin price history you can see that  most of the times that bitcoin experiences a big drop altcoins are dropping even more and even harder.
so if you are afraid of losing money with possible bitcoin drop then you should be 100 times more afraid of losing money with altcoins drop.

[bamboylee]

Make sure that you're not holding your coins in a wallet that doesn't give you access to private keys. This is especially important if you're looking to prepare for scenarios like the ones mentioned in OP. While unlikely, it'd be possible for services where you're holding coins at to not give you access to certain token created after a chain split.

First op needs to be put through that 2 distinct activities with 2 distinct dates are involved in the Bitcoin Scaling Agreement. First is that come August 1st, a soft fork (segwit) would take place and one does not necessarily have to do anything, because segwit is backwards compatible to almost all wallets. Six months later comes the hard fork, which is much of what op is asking to know. As he must have read, that would entail a change in code base and the nodes shall be required to upgrade their software to be compatible. That is when where your coins are, becomes an issue.  

I think what you are saying is segwit2x which caught attention lately because miners signal reaches 80%. If this happens, august 1 or bip148 or uasf will be prevented.

[johnwest]

I think its best to collect all of your BTC into a mobile wallet and do only the transaction which is necessary and important. If there will be 2 coins after the fork like it happened with ETH then you will get both the coins BTC and the other one. If your BTC's are in the exchanges then it will be up to exchange's that whether they will give you both or only one. That's my understanding right now.

[bamboylee]

I think its best to collect all of your BTC into a mobile wallet and do only the transaction which is necessary and important. If there will be 2 coins after the fork like it happened with ETH then you will get both the coins BTC and the other one. If your BTC's are in the exchanges then it will be up to exchange's that whether they will give you both or only one. That's my understanding right now.

it does not matter whether it is a mobile wallet or desktop or hardware. what matters is that you control the private key of your wallet to ensure that you will get both coins if ever a split happens.

[Kprawn]

If you hold the private keys, then in both. The blockchain won't be changed until the fork time, so you will have the same coins in the other fork too.

But if you use a service that don't allow you to get private key(exchanges, online wallets, casinos, etc...) you probably will get nothing.

From what I understand most services will offer support for more than one coin, after the fork. You will have the option to exchange the one coin

for the other on exchanges that offer support for both coins. If you have the private key, then you can choose which coin you want to spend at

whatever coin a merchant supports. I think the best option would be to transfer coins out to a paper wallet, where you have full access to your

private key.  

[crypto33]

Sorry this might sound a little stupid but what is the difference between a split and a fork? And also what would I have to do if a split occured and I then wanted to spend my coins?

Im guessing I couldnt spend the same coins on both splits as that would means I've doubled my money. Sorry im just trying to wrap my head around it

there is no stupid questions
a fork is like a change in the code. like an upgrade. in a decentralized network like bitcoin the whole network has to agree to that change. if they all do (or at least the overwhelming majority agree) then the change will happen smoothly and there won't be anyone left on the old one.
example: the last hard fork bitcoin had years ago to fix a bug.

but if the majority don't agree with the change and many stay on the old one and many go on the new one then the two forks will exist side by side and the split happens.
example: ethereum fork which led to ETH and ETC.

i am not sure about what to do so if i am wrong i hope someone corrects the following:
the problem is the replay attack. when you spend coins on one chain the transaction is valid on the other chain so it will be spent on the other chain also.
in order to fix that i think the best way is this:
create different addresses and send funds to each of them on different chains.

Address1 has funds pre split
you make Address2 and Address3 they are all valid on both chains.
send funds to Address2 on chain1
send the same funds to Address3 on chain2
if these two transactions are confirmed on different correct chains your funds are safely on different chains and can not cross path. because Address2 is empty on chain2 and Address3 is empty on chain1 and your Address1 is now empty too. (by empty i mean the transaction output is now spent and can not be spent again)

whether you double your money depends on how the price will react.

I think all the hard forks happen with a split, by deffinetion;

i think you may be confusing backward compatibility with split and fork.

Thanks for understanding.I have been out of the game a little while and I've missed things in the past and will not be making the same mistake again. For example Whistle Coin rebranded to Bit Currency and I missed it, the opportunity to exchange my bag of WSTL for the new coin was gone. Lesson learnt, keep an eye on this forum.

Thanks for explaning I think I get it now, I'll just sit back and see what happens for now as I have my private keys and am not planning on spending a single sat, not for a very long while 

[crypto33]

Thanks to everyone for the info! Helped out alot. I love this forum!