Bitcoin prices (and cryptocurrencies prices in general) have been dropping like a stone as people take their all time high profits off the table. There's nothing wrong with taking profits when the price is high.
Some people panic when the price of Bitcoin drops and with the new hard fork approaching are cashing out before it drops further.
With all this selling the price is on sale right now. Good time to buy if you're plan is to hold for the long term.
If you're like me and plan on holding Bitcoin through the upcoming hard fork, there's a few things you should know to keep your funds safe throughout the transition.
What If Bitcoin Splits Into Two Coins?
First off, there is a possibility that Bitcoin could split into two different coins after the hard fork if the miners don't come to a consensus before the fork.
There are two different ideas of how Bitcoin should proceed with 85% of the miners wanting to implement SegWit2x (same bitcoin or BTC) and 42% of miners wanting to implement Bitcoin Unlimited (the new coin BU).
If this split into two coins does occur here is what you need to know. The split would create two different Bitcoin networks and two different coins. You would be holding two different assets.
Soon after this hypothetical split happens the market will determine the value of each coin and you will be able to spend the total amount of coins you have on each network.
You can spend these coins on both networks as long as you personally hold and control your private keys to your coins.
If you're keeping your bitcoin on an exchange where you do not have 100% control of your private keys then you risk the possibility of having access to only one or the other coin should a split occur.
Depending on the choice the exchange holding your coins makes, you may only have those coins available to you. If the holder of your coins decides to allow coin access to both networks then you may still be able to access both networks and their respective coins.
However, if you are the holder of your coins and your private keys, then when the dust settles you will be able to access and spend both coins on two different networks.
If you're not 100% sure if you are the holder of your private keys you can store your bitcoins on a paper wallet until after the hard fork happens and the market decides which coin will prevail if the split takes place.
A great post about paper wallets can by found at How To Import Paper Wallets And Beginners Guide To Wallets --- by @heiditravels
What If Bitcoin Does Not Splits Into Two Coins?
If the split never happens then none of this matters. Bitcoin prices will take a dip and in my view will rise again after the hard fork.
It is a good idea to not do any transactions on or around the date of the hard fork which is August 1st, 2017.
If you're a long term holder of bitcoin then buying when the price is lower is a good idea. These are just my thoughts and I'm not giving financial advise. I'm just sharing what I have learned and believe to be true. Plus, just for your information I have been drinking beer while writing this post so take everything I'm saying with a grain of salt. (or a sip of beer)
Disclaimer: The investment in Bitcoin can lead to loss of money over short or even long periods. The investors in Bitcoin should expect prices to have large range fluctuations. The information published here cannot guarantee that the investors in Bitcoin would not lose money.
Here is a video that explains the hard fork in more detail and how to keep your bitcoins safe.
Pay attention because this is Important! How to keep your bitcoin safe - Andreas M. Antonopoulos
Definitely holding onto my BTC (on paper wallets) through the hard fork. In it for the long haul...
Me too. I believe in the long term potential of Bitcoin
Scaling in the future has the potential to be absolutely MASSIVE 😳😁
Agreed. Bitcoin sure is seeing more adoption by people and governments even. It's exciting to see where all this will lead. We're just getting started really.
Yip,!its definitely still early days. Exciting times ahead 😁
There is no contradiction between holding long-term and sell right now.
What do you mean by no contradiction?
Thanks for taking the time to explain it. I'm completely new to cryptocurrency but trying to learn all that I can, so all this panicking about the markets is a bit beyond me right now, this info really helped. Thanks again!
Thanks for taking time to read my post.
good info, thanks for posting this so i can learn a bit more about what's coming
I look at it like growing pains. We'll get through it and be stronger afterward.
Thanks for taking the time to explain this. I have read a few articles and watched a few videos but it is nice to have many different sources to figure out if my understanding is correct.
There's a lot of different views on where it will go. We'll see.
I didn't see this before... so belated thank you very much!
I'm just holding. Not technical enough to play around. Thanks.
Great article, thanks for the good work!
Read this
During BTC crashes, ChainCoin goes up... Of course BTC are safe, but I made some savage cash by moving my btc to ChainCoin during this crashes. I have following this HODL revolution and my question is... Will CHC dethrone BTC?
I don't know anything about ChainCoin.
I don't own any bitcoin and I imagine I'll mostly end up eventually using it to convert steem to fiat, but I'm really fascinated by this hard fork. It seems like a huge landmark that the first cryptocurrency ever made might split like that.
Question.. Is Coinbase considered a safe wallet during the hard fork or should I move BTC to Jaxx or Mycellium or paper wallet?
Coinbase is looking out for their customers and will probably favor the majority chain which will probably be segwit2x. Question is if bitcoin forks and splits like Ethereum and Ethereum classic did, will coinbase give customers both coins?
That is exactly the right question. By having full control of your own keys and not storing bitcoin on an exchange then this question becomes irrelevant because you can transfer either coin and any network at any time. You decide if you want to sell one coin or the other, when and where to do so, or to hold them both.
Very good
bitcoin are safe , media just made a big deal of nothing, of course holding money on exchanges does can be dangerous
Hello please kindly like my post too thanks
https://steemit.com/eos/@romantic4/the-importance-of-confidence
Spamming someone's comments with a link to a completely unrelated topic is bad form on Steemit and will not help your reputation here. You're only hurting yourself by doing this.
A nice informative article for those of us who aren't cryto-currency experts.
Trying to keep it simple.
succeeded :)
Yes !
bitcoin could go either way, this market is unpredictable
Have to agree with you there. We'll see.
Thanks for the much needed clarification!
My pleasure.
Good, common-sense post @luzcypher. Thanks.
Bitcoin holder since 2011 and I'm taking profit right now. What we're looking at is a clear and present overhype. Most of the coins will worth several time less in a year.
They have been saying that about bitcoin since day one.
Love how you always inform us with what we should or could do :) @luzcypher
I wouldn't assume to tell you what to do when it comes to investing in cryptocurrencies. I'm just sharing what I know and am doing. In the end these things are every person's individual decision.
Agreeed 1000%!
I hadn't realized that the hard fork included a possibility of doubling the in-circulation bitlike-coins. That will make for an interesting economy as coins get traded out and their new value settles in.
It will be interesting indeed and had happened before with Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.
Dash is an offshoot of Bitcoin and Pivx is an offshoot of Dash. This is not the first time this has happened.
oh my goodness, this is EXACTLY what I was looking for!!! I have been a nervous wreck trying to figure out how the hell to get my coins off coinbase into a paper wallet. (newbie to the cryptoworld) Someone needs to write an instruction manual!!! Thank you so much for sharing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just Google How to make a paper wallet. You'll find lots of instruction manuals.
Here's a video I like about it.
..hey, sounds good..as a beginner, i want to learn and get inside the stuff...and i malmost sure that in every market the big ones are able to manipulate..cheers..
I guess I just don't understand why one would be preferred over the other?
All this split represents is an argument between two groups of miners as to how the scaling issues that bitcoin is having should be solved. One group think it should be solved by increasing the block size and the other group by increasing transaction fees. That's an oversimplification but essentially at the core of the disagreement.
If the majority do not go one way or the other and bitcoin does split into two coins then the market, meaning every day users of bitcoin, will decide which has more value.
If most users want the original bitcoin then they will sell the other coin to buy more of the original. All that selling of one coin and buying of the other will lower the price of the former and raise the price of the latter.
Hope that makes sense.
Great explanation, and thanks for that. I basically bailed on Bitcoin a few weeks back and parked on the sidelines... willing to assume that risk in either direction.
The thing that remains a little ambiguous to me is IF there is a split, how will that work with the 1000's of merchants who have a "Bitcoin accepted here" shingle hanging in their windows? Will they all have to totally redo what they accept? And "revalue" what they are charging? We were going to start accepting bitcoin at our small art gallery... but thankfully, didn't get anything finalized on that, before all the uncertainty set in. But still curious... any thoughts?
Good concise explanation for us laymen ;)
I'm trying to discern wether or not bread wallet supports both. Don't think they have announced anything yet tho.