[Guide] Handling splits: UASFs, BIP148, etc.

[Hienrich]

This can cause the price go down? people going to move to altcoins?

Yeah I would expect so. Splits usually cause serious confusion and members are likely to change their coins to altcoins to avoid the split. After the split has occurred, however, most people return their coins to the "real bitcoin"(The cryptocurrency which most other people are using. To identify this crypto, just look for the coin with the higher market cap).

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[ratoe]

Thanks Theymos, for guiding us in a very easy manner..

was a bit confuse and chaos in every telegram group/twitter... that either we shift to alts or sell btc for USDT

does electrum wallet is safe to store BTC in this current scenario?

[Hasbro27]

Thank you for providing this information, so we can prevent the loss

[Sithara007]

I am terribly confused about all this. If Bitcoin splits in to three different currencies by August, and if I am keeping my coins in my Blockchain.info wallet, then can anyone tell me what I need to do in order to claim all three coins? How can I get the private key from the (old) Blockchain.info wallet?

[Rabinovitch]

Now we are waiting for some guide that will teach us how to save both currencues after the split.  Sure that's what every Bitcoin holder should do. Just in case.

[mandica]

How about if I have my BTC in a Trezor wallet with a recovery key phrase?

[achow101]

I am terribly confused about all this. If Bitcoin splits in to three different currencies by August, and if I am keeping my coins in my Blockchain.info wallet, then can anyone tell me what I need to do in order to claim all three coins? How can I get the private key from the (old) Blockchain.info wallet?

Blockchain.info used to have some way to export your private keys, but I don't think they have that capability anymore. Either way, if you want to be able to use your Bitcoin on all forks after a chain split, then you need to control your private keys and control which chain you are using. Using a web wallet like blockchain.info will not provide you this capability. The easiest thing to do would be to just get a desktop wallet (preferably a full node wallet like Bitcoin Core) and send your Bitcoin to an address in the desktop wallet. Then you will have full control of your private keys and be able to choose the chain(s) you wish to follow.

How about if I have my BTC in a Trezor wallet with a recovery key phrase?

You control your private keys. Which chain you want to spend on only depends on the wallet software you use to interact with your hardware wallet. The hardware wallet itself does not know about nor does it care about the blockchain it is signing transactions for.

Now we are waiting for some guide that will teach us how to save both currencues after the split.  Sure that's what every Bitcoin holder should do. Just in case.

There is actually an amazingly simple way to "taint" your coins that I have only recently heard about. This method requires using transaction locktimes and may require a bit of advanced skill (most taint methods require that anyways).

To taint your coins, you need to make one transaction that is valid on one chain and invalid on the other. Since a chain split will likely result in one chain with a majority of the hash rate and one chain with a minority of the hash rate. The chain with the minority hash rate will produce blocks at a slower rate so it will be at a lower block height. Thus you can make a transaction which has a locktime of the most recent block on the chain with the majority hash rate. This means that the transaction will be valid and can be mined on the majority hash rate chain, but is invalid on the minority hash rate chain until it's most recent block height matches the locktime that you set. Once your locktimed transaction confirms on the majority hash rate chain, you immediately make a transaction which spends the same inputs but does not have the locktime and get that confirmed on the other chain. This second transaction will be invalid on the majority hash rate chain because it conflicts with one that has already confirmed, and if the transaction confirms on the minority hash rate chain, then your coins will be successfully split. You can then spend from those transactions on their respective chains without any risk of transaction replay as any transactions that spend from those will be invalid on the other chain.

[Tr0ner]

does electrum wallet is safe to store BTC in this current scenario?

Electrum have a guide on how to proceed in case of hard fork - http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/hardfork.html

[AGD]

What should I do to secure my bitcoins?

First of all, remove all bitcoins possible from banks/exchanges/"hosted wallets". If you can't export your private keys, then you don't actually control the bitcoins. This is a good idea in general, but it's especially important in case of splits. If you're using a Bitcoin bank, then you will have no control over what happens to your coins. Quite possibly, the bank will end up stealing/losing one of the currencies that you should have access to, either through greed/malice or technical incompetence, and the currency they throw away might well be the only one that ends up having any long-term value.

I guess we'll see a mass withdrawal and a liquidation problem on all exchanges in the upcoming weeks.

[Notin2]

Am glad to have stumble across this thread, i guess alot of btc holders would not know about this and how to prepare for the upcoming fork.

[thiec]

I am terribly confused about all this. If Bitcoin splits in to three different currencies by August, and if I am keeping my coins in my Blockchain.info wallet, then can anyone tell me what I need to do in order to claim all three coins? How can I get the private key from the (old) Blockchain.info wallet?

If you want all coin (legacy and fork) I think you should move your btc (include private key) to paper wallet to be secure.
Some wallet (software) may or maybe not work smoothly after split so i prefer wait until everything calm and impor the paper wallet into online again.
You can have both coin if you import to both online wallet or three type wallet if split into three

[Drokzid]

Thanks for this guide.

[kotbi]

Is it safe to store bitcoin at  blockchain.info ?

[target]

Is it safe to store bitcoin at  blockchain.info ?

Previous replies says NO.

When the chain splits, will there also be the change of mining requirements?  
Which wallet can you recommend for easier use when choosing which chain to go with?

[restypots]

its a big contreversy during split for other people worried to coins down, and bitcoin can change into two difference but i am also pleasure of saying theymos to guide more on crypto to always ready and preffered after segwit.

[joseafonso123az]

this is great ! We will keep updated about  the things that might happen after 1st August with your information ! Hopefully all turns up normal and problem arises with this ! 

[start the art]

This will kill the bitcoin totally.
3 different bitcoins.
I dont like it.
And it is confusing for ordinary people like me.
Will see.
I am gonna convert all my btc to USD now.
Then I am safe.

[BiggieSmallz]

Great summary Theymos. There's a lot of misinterpreted information out there about August 1st. I was confused as well but now the situation is more clear. Fingers crossed now!

[aesma]

We are talking about "economic significance" and people running the modified software, but how will they be incentivized to move over, if we will have a period {possibly weeks} where people will not actively move coins? Most people/users/merchants/exchanges will go into a wait and see mode, before they move their coins. The people who wants this shift/change the most, will have to spearhead this process to show the direction for other people who will be waiting back to see what happens.

I for one are the type of person who will wait for other people to upgrade to the latest version of say Windows/Linux or whatever and then upgrade once the bugs have been sorted out. ^hmmm^

You have a very good point there. We the careful ones have to hope that there are enough brave ones who will continue exchanging BTC before and after the 1st August, and preferably most of them on one chain.

Exchanges owners must really be sweating wondering what to do. Will they suspend withdrawals at some point ?

[Ken Hiromasa]

This is a fantastic guide. Very simplified for the non-tech savvy as well. Unfortunately many bitcoin holders haven't had the opportunity to read your post going by the senseless FUD being spread on social networks.