Forks just encourages holders before the fork to keep bitcoins on exchanges

[andrew24p]

I would actually agree with you for the average user, but it not worth the risk for many which is why we didnt put our coins on an exchange. I could have made 3x what I did on my coins, but I would have been increasing the risk exponentially if my account was accessed and drained.

[iamTom123]

I am happy that before August 1, I did not listen much to the overload of FUD online regarding what can happen in SegWit and the resulting fork or split of Bitcoin. There were so many hypes and fear-mongering which were baseless and if anyone will listen to them may just panic and withdraw all his Bitcoin into fiat money. 

I deposited my little Bitcoin in Bittrex because I read that they are supporting the split and I would be given my free BitcoinCash (BCH) immediately after the said date. Yes, they are reputable enough and after some days I was able to sell my share of BCH on the exchange. I am happy for that. And I love Bittrex...hope the US government will not touch them for anything.

People who always listen to lies and hypes will end up losing money here in cryptocurrency. I already learn my big lessons in the past and hopefully all of us should stop and just stick to the real news in case something of this magnitude can happen again in Bitcoin.

[krishnapramod]

Instead of keeping them in cold storage/private wallets because they get to dump the free coins earlier at the best price. Otherwise holders in private wallets will encounter many delays that will result in dumping the free coins for pennies/free.

I read everyone saying keep bitcoins in private wallets instead of exchanges as exchanges are riskier but when it comes to forks the exchanges are at a speed advantage.

What can be done in the future to prevent this and make it fair?

Logic, hodlers don't keep bitcoins in exchanges because they don't believe in short-term trading and their perception of bitcoin price is much broader than a few dollars high or low.

Future/Fair, it sounds like forking is an ever occurring event It is free coins, have funds in exchanges, you dumped it quickly and made a few dollars. You are a hodler, no dumping, hodl the free coins. In the long term it might end up in profit or null/free, no loss, no impact on the bitcoins you are hodling.

Hard fork/coins in exchanges/no control over your funds/free coins = Fair

Hard fork/cold storage/control over your funds/HODL/dump/choice = Fair

It is choice, priority. If you think it is good to have your funds on a third party website during a fork to get free coins, then it is fair. If you think having control of your funds during a fork to have delayed access to free coins, it is fair.

[hello_good_sir]

Instead of keeping them in cold storage/private wallets because they get to dump the free coins earlier at the best price. Otherwise holders in private wallets will encounter many delays that will result in dumping the free coins for pennies/free.

I read everyone saying keep bitcoins in private wallets instead of exchanges as exchanges are riskier but when it comes to forks the exchanges are at a speed advantage.

What can be done in the future to prevent this and make it fair?

The thing is that people are actually taking a huge risk if they decided to keep their bitcoin on an exchange, in case of a hard fork like this one. So many things can go wrong and in the end, the person storing the bitcoins might get nothing in return for taking the risk.

For instance, Xapo is deciding to credit their customers account but when they are going to do it is completely unclear.

An exchange could potentially do something similar, promising to have accounts credited by 2nd August for instance but not crediting until the 10th. Or, the orderbooks could be empty and you can't withdraw your token.

Plus, making profit isn't the point of forks anyways, or at least the main end-goal. And we can't control people from making useless altcoins because that's just impossible.

[Sithara007]

Only a very few exchanges (such as YoBit and Bittrex) allowed the users to trade in BCH immediately after the chain came up online. The other exchanges were late by a few days, and some of them are yet to credit the BCH or allow the trading in that currency.

[The_Dark_Knight]

I am happy that before August 1, I did not listen much to the overload of FUD online regarding what can happen in SegWit and the resulting fork or split of Bitcoin. There were so many hypes and fear-mongering which were baseless and if anyone will listen to them may just panic and withdraw all his Bitcoin into fiat money. 

I deposited my little Bitcoin in Bittrex because I read that they are supporting the split and I would be given my free BitcoinCash (BCH) immediately after the said date. Yes, they are reputable enough and after some days I was able to sell my share of BCH on the exchange. I am happy for that. And I love Bittrex...hope the US government will not touch them for anything.

People who always listen to lies and hypes will end up losing money here in cryptocurrency. I already learn my big lessons in the past and hopefully all of us should stop and just stick to the real news in case something of this magnitude can happen again in Bitcoin.

The people that let themselves be influenced by all the FUD do not know any better, I’m of the opinion that we must inform ourselves throughly when it comes to our investments and that includes bitcoin as well, if people actually did that FUD will diminish since it would lose its effectiveness.

[Sadlife]

Im afraid it is easier to dump your bitcoins in exchanges than cold storage or private wallets if i understand your question correctly. Because it is much more riskier if you put your private keys on exchanges cause you might get influenced by selling it while private wallets are safe havens to keep your bitcoins and if you decide to cash out you can quickly get your money and convert it to fiat or use your bitcoins to buy some goods and services. Instead of exchanges that charge high fees in withdrawal and might steal your private keys with some fake transactions.

[BrewMaster]

i don't think this "encouragement" was that big because as we have seen in the past days ever since the hard fork happened, the volume of dumps on exchanges from people who were holding their coins there has not been that big. and this shows not that many were actually keeping bitcoin on exchanges.

in fact as a trader you keep funds on exchanges but they are mostly in a trade like you having an altcoin and setting an open sell order and waiting for it to be filled.

[BurstIncomeAsset]

Are you sure?

There is no warranty that they will receive any fork coin, neither when.And you can't never be 100% sure that a surprise fork will happen.

[ekoice]

Instead of keeping them in cold storage/private wallets because they get to dump the free coins earlier at the best price. Otherwise holders in private wallets will encounter many delays that will result in dumping the free coins for pennies/free.

I read everyone saying keep bitcoins in private wallets instead of exchanges as exchanges are riskier but when it comes to forks the exchanges are at a speed advantage.

What can be done in the future to prevent this and make it fair?

I too transferred my bitcoins from exchange to my electrum wallet so that it would remain secure.It really remained secure but i missed the chance of getting free BCC coins equivalent to BTC i had.Many sold out their BCC coins for some extra cash.So,next time,if such a hard fork happens,then i would keep my bitcoins in exchange much before to get some free coins.

[The_Dark_Knight]

Are you sure?

There is no warranty that they will receive any fork coin, neither when.And you can't never be 100% sure that a surprise fork will happen.

True, coinbase at the beginning did not support the bitcoin cash fork at all and suggested to the traders in their platform to withdraw their coins if they wanted to receive bitcoin cash, now it seems they are going to give BCH to those that decided to not withdraw their coins but they are going to receive those coins until next year.