Will we be warned before a hard fork?

[mike4001]

Hi,

Probably a stupid question, but since the price of BTC will obviously go down rapidly if a hard fork happes.

Will we get some kind of an annoucement/warning hours/days before they start the fork or will this happen from one second to the next?

[richardsNY]

Not really. If whatever side (e.g. Segwit, BU) reaches its required support level, then there will still be 14 days between the moment of the fork to really happen. Just keep an eye on this site https://coin.dance/blocks to see how much support each side has in terms of percentages. Best is that you keep a close eye on all developments regarding a potential fork. There is too much fud going through the forum right now due to trolls and paid shills.

[Alesis]

In the case of BU being activated, there will be very little, if any, warning because it could ultimately be enacted at any time after it has spent two weeks with an absolute majority of support (although it's expected to wait until 75%).  You would have to watch very carefully when it comes close to spending a consistent two weeks with this majority.

[mindrust]

You can't miss it if you're actively reading news about bitcoin in this forum or reddit or any other bitcoin related news service, even twitter. People will be screaming in pain(or joy) when the time is near. Just stay alert when BU reaches critical support levels.

I hope everybody's gonna have enough time to prepare.

[FiendCoin]

Hi,

Probably a stupid question, but since the price of BTC will obviously go down rapidly if a hard fork happes.

Will we get some kind of an annoucement/warning hours/days before they start the fork or will this happen from one second to the next?

Your warning is at 50% hash power. Anytime after that, shenanigans may ensue.

[Dalida]

You can't miss it if you're actively reading news about bitcoin in this forum or reddit or any other bitcoin related news service, even twitter. People will be screaming in pain(or joy) when the time is near. Just stay alert when BU reaches critical support levels.

I hope everybody's gonna have enough time to prepare.

What is the critical support level at the moment ?

What is the critical support level at the moment ?

[mike4001]

What is the critical support level at the moment ?

https://coin.dance/blocks

Last 144 blocks is at 41,7% but yesterday it was <38% I think and the day before also >40%. So it´s fluctuating a lot.

Last 1000 blocks is still at 35,8%

[xypos]

Hi,

Probably a stupid question, but since the price of BTC will obviously go down rapidly if a hard fork happes.

Will we get some kind of an annoucement/warning hours/days before they start the fork or will this happen from one second to the next?

Well first of all i don't necessarily agree with your statement. The price of bitcoin will go down rapidly if a hard fork happens, however that is only Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Unlimited individually. Them added together will probably be the same price as before.

This is what happened with Z Classic, and ZCash, as well as Ethereum and ETC.

As to the warning, we've already got one.

No one really knows when it's going to happen, but if it's going to happen it's probably going to happen this year.

Once the hash power of Bitcoin Unlimited goes over anything over 50%, you have your warning.

[lottery248]

how does the hard fork affect bitcoin? will this kind of act making someone able to control bitcoin or something thus bitcoin price falls? anyway, you should be aware of random announcement which affects your willingness to use bitcoin, though i am in the dark of hard fork so far.

[cellard]

Bitcoin Unlimited is a flawed concept. The project will explode within itself in no time if it gets activated. I hope the market reacts accordingly and dumps their BTU for BTC.

Sooner or later Core will get proven the winning team, regardless what the mining mafia has to say about it.

[york780]

Guys this is quite interesting what i was thinking about. Look i guess(not relevant for this matter to be exact) BU includes 30% of the community. If Bitcoin forks and BU will be a altcoin those 30% are LIKELY to put their stash in BU right? This means that BTC price will crash with 30% when this happens (fork). This will be a favor for Ethereum, thats why vitalik buterin says a fork is good thing for btc because Buterin makes money out of it and Eth will be almost as big as Bitcoin when a fork occurs.

[ImHash]

Guys this is quite interesting what i was thinking about. Look i guess(not relevant for this matter to be exact) BU includes 30% of the community. If Bitcoin forks and BU will be a altcoin those 30% are LIKELY to put their stash in BU right? This means that BTC price will crash with 30% when this happens (fork). This will be a favor for Ethereum, thats why vitalik buterin says a fork is good thing for btc because Buterin makes money out of it and Eth will be almost as big as Bitcoin when a fork occurs.

ETH is not a currency but rather a token to give value to the platform which applications are running on it, however if bitcoin forks it will be exactly like ETH being Core and ETC being BU, even if Core wants to hard fork bitcoin if they don't do it with 95% total consensus you should consider them as a hostile party and drop the support.
The majority of miners(mining power) is not an idiot to hard fork bitcoin without an urgent need they know the risks and that's why they are testing the waters and we're right now been warned already.

[Snorek]

Your warning is at 50% hash power. Anytime after that, shenanigans may ensue.

This is true with Bitcoin Unlimited, as its supporters don't care about proper consensus rules and could try to take over bitcoin with just 51% hashing power.
AFAIK SegWit still requires an overwhelming 95% majority to be activated - and I don't see that happening, ever.

[Freaks]

Hi,

Probably a stupid question, but since the price of BTC will obviously go down rapidly if a hard fork happes.

Will we get some kind of an annoucement/warning hours/days before they start the fork or will this happen from one second to the next?

This was true and serious concern what many people like you and me had and have about the upcoming events and information. What I have understood from little bit discussion from this thread is good than anything based on guesses. I really appreciate all the shared information here.

[Alesis]

Hi,

Probably a stupid question, but since the price of BTC will obviously go down rapidly if a hard fork happes.

Will we get some kind of an annoucement/warning hours/days before they start the fork or will this happen from one second to the next?

This was true and serious concern what many people like you and me had and have about the upcoming events and information. What I have understood from little bit discussion from this thread is good than anything based on guesses. I really appreciate all the shared information here.

This thread is good for exactly what's it's good for, which is saying that there won't be a warning.  There will be predictions though, and people can accurately predict a HF from about a week or so before it happens I suspect.

[RoomBot]

Guess what, Peeps?

We've been warned.

I got emails today from both CoinBase and Circle exchanges!

They both claim the fork is "in the near future" and withdrawals will then be suspended temporarily.

I'm moving my coins tonight.

edit:  Here's the letter:

Update for Customers With Bitcoin Stored on Coinbase
We wanted to provide customers notice of how a possible hard fork of the Bitcoin protocol into Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Unlimited will affect Coinbase accounts.

The only version of Bitcoin supported on the Coinbase platform today is Bitcoin Core, currently represented by the symbol BTC.

We may provide support for Bitcoin Unlimited in the future depending on market conditions and stability of the protocol, but we cannot guarantee whether or when such support may be available. Customers who wish to access both blockchains at the time of the hard fork should withdraw their BTC from Coinbase since we cannot guarantee what will happen during the hard fork or when this access may be available.

If one chain receives an overwhelming majority of support from miners, users, and exchanges, we reserve the right to alter the names of chains or discontinue support for certain chains in the future.

Ensuring the safety of customer funds is our top priority. In the event of a hard fork of the Bitcoin protocol, it is likely that Coinbase will temporarily suspend the deposit and withdrawal of bitcoin from the platform pending our assessment of the technical risks posed by any fork, such as the possibility of replay attacks, network instability, or other factors. Customers should take note that they will not be able to withdraw bitcoin from or deposit bitcoin to Coinbase for a period of up to 24 hours or more following the fork. In the event of a hard fork of the Bitcoin protocol, Coinbase may suspend the ability to buy or sell on our platform during this time.

Coinbase looks forward to working with other exchanges and development teams to ensure the smooth execution of future hard forks with as little disruption as possible. Customers should continue to monitor our support pages and Twitter account for updates regarding our support for digital currencies on the platform.

[RoomBot]

From Circle Exchange, marked, "Urgent"

Based on recent developments in the Bitcoin ecosystem, it now seems likely that one or more forks of Bitcoin may occur in the near future. Any fork of Bitcoin may have a significant impact on the value of bitcoin and your ability to access the bitcoin you hold with Circle.

[jofus]

Hi,

Probably a stupid question, but since the price of BTC will obviously go down rapidly if a hard fork happes.

Will we get some kind of an annoucement/warning hours/days before they start the fork or will this happen from one second to the next?

When you see the price drop 200$ in 30 seconds, thats when you know.

[jofus]

Guess what, Peeps?

We've been warned.

I got emails today from both CoinBase and Circle exchanges!

They both claim the fork is "in the near future" and withdrawals will then be suspended temporarily.

I'm moving my coins tonight.

edit:  Here's the letter:

Update for Customers With Bitcoin Stored on Coinbase
We wanted to provide customers notice of how a possible hard fork of the Bitcoin protocol into Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Unlimited will affect Coinbase accounts.

The only version of Bitcoin supported on the Coinbase platform today is Bitcoin Core, currently represented by the symbol BTC.

We may provide support for Bitcoin Unlimited in the future depending on market conditions and stability of the protocol, but we cannot guarantee whether or when such support may be available. Customers who wish to access both blockchains at the time of the hard fork should withdraw their BTC from Coinbase since we cannot guarantee what will happen during the hard fork or when this access may be available.

If one chain receives an overwhelming majority of support from miners, users, and exchanges, we reserve the right to alter the names of chains or discontinue support for certain chains in the future.

Ensuring the safety of customer funds is our top priority. In the event of a hard fork of the Bitcoin protocol, it is likely that Coinbase will temporarily suspend the deposit and withdrawal of bitcoin from the platform pending our assessment of the technical risks posed by any fork, such as the possibility of replay attacks, network instability, or other factors. Customers should take note that they will not be able to withdraw bitcoin from or deposit bitcoin to Coinbase for a period of up to 24 hours or more following the fork. In the event of a hard fork of the Bitcoin protocol, Coinbase may suspend the ability to buy or sell on our platform during this time.

Coinbase looks forward to working with other exchanges and development teams to ensure the smooth execution of future hard forks with as little disruption as possible. Customers should continue to monitor our support pages and Twitter account for updates regarding our support for digital currencies on the platform.

Yes, if you plan on holding coins through the fork, best to have them secured yourself.

[Rude Boy]

Yes,i got warning from twitter.
Civic CEO Vinny Lingham shared the following advice to all Bitcoin users:
I recommend to people in Bitcoin to have two pots. One is your long term BTC holdings, cold storage. Never sell those. Trade the other pot.
Prepare for hard fork:
Although it’s hard to tell exactly which Bitcoin services will support Core, BU or both, users can expect their coins to be available on both chains.

Keeping your bits on your own personal wallet, in which you control the private keys, is advised, as this would ensure that your coins are credited on both blockchains.
One could then access the BU coins via the Bitcoin Unlimited client and the original chain’s coins via any wallet that supports Bitcoin Core. Keeping coins on an exchange is not recommended.

“Coins on an exchange are not yours. That’s true regardless of any possibility of a fork,” Antonopoulos notes.

However, if you do store your coins on an exchange, the most likely event would be the exchange will credit your coins on both chains, though it’s a decision that will be left entirely up to the exchange operators.
To play it safe, keeping your bits on your wallet and keeping your funds in cold storage/offline is highly recommended.