Blockchain Technology,
This is a re-write of A Bitcoin Beginner’s Guide to Surviving a Coin-Split https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/beginners-guide-surviving-coin-split/ specifically addressing issues associated with the upcoming BIP 148 UASF.
There is a chance Bitcoin will experience a chain-split on August 1st. A segment of all Bitcoin users is committed to activate a user activated soft fork (UASF) as described in Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 148 https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0148.mediawiki (BIP 148)
Specifically, they will reject any Bitcoin blocks that do not signal support for Segregated Witness (SegWit), the centerpiece of Bitcoin Core (https://bitcoincore.org/)’s scaling roadmap (https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2015-December/011865.html).
If a majority of miners (by hash power) does not signal support for SegWit on August 1st, but at least some do, Bitcoin’s blockchain will split in two. In that case, there would be two types of Bitcoin tokens, which we’ll refer to in this article as “148 BTC” for coins on the soft forked chain, and “Legacy BTC” for coins on the chain that did not activate the soft fork.The good news is that each bitcoin would effectively be copied to both chains. If you hold bitcoin right now, you will hold both 148 BTC and Legacy BTC after the split.
The bad news is that this coin-split can be messy and risky. And if you’re not careful, you could lose funds.This guide will provide you with the basics to keeping your funds safe during the UASF and will help to make sure you make it to the “other side” with all your bitcoins intact.Author’s note: If you want to play the 148 BTC/Legacy BTC markets as soon as possible and you are fine with taking risks, and/or you really know what you are doing, this article is probably not for you:
It’s a beginner’s guide.Before August 1First off, be aware that a chain-split create a high-risk situation. There is a chance that some sort of cyber-battle will break out between the two camps, perhaps even escalating to the point where bitcoin’s exchange rate(s) drops sharply, possibly to zero. Make absolutely sure you are not holding more value in bitcoin than what you are willing to lose.
If you do decide to hold onto your bitcoins, the single most important piece of advice is this: Ensure that you control your own private keys.If you are storing your bitcoins on an exchange, in a custodial wallet like Coinbase, Circle or Xapo, or on any other service that holds your private keys for you, you may or may not eventually receive coins on both ends of the chain. In fact, if these kinds of services aren’t well-prepared, there could be scenarios where you don’t get any coins at all. So far, no exchanges have given any kind of guarantee. So if you’re using any of these kinds of services to store your bitcoins, you need to create your own wallet
(https://bitcoinmagazine.com/guides/what-are-bitcoin-wallets/).
Send your bitcoins to one or several Bitcoin addresses in this new wallet. This wallet now holds your private keys.What kind of wallet you use is up to you. That said, here are some basic solutions: If you don’t care about transacting with bitcoin (either 148 BTC or Legacy BTC) anytime soon and really just want to keep both as a long-term investment, printing your private keys on a paper wallet is one option. This option, however, is only really secure if you follow strict security precautions, which you can find here
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Paper_wallet
Another option is to get a hardware wallet. Any of the hardware wallets listed on bitcoin.org (https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet) will keep your private keys secure.Most regular desktop or mobile wallets, as listed on bitcoin.org (http://bitcoin.org/), are about as secure as your computer or phone is. Since most computers and phones are not all that secure, these are not ideal for large amounts. With that in mind, all mobile wallets and desktop wallets listed on bitcoin.org will store