So are you confused about all the fuss about the Bitcoin hard fork, split announced on August 1st.
I am not anymore and in this article I will try to share my knowledge with you.
At 12:20 p.m. UTC on 2017-08-01, according to Bitcoin Cash, there will be a hard fork of Bitcoin core. What does that mean ?
It's like a copy and paste of the Bitcoin blockchain. The Bitcoin blockchain contains all transactions and all the wallet balances. So it means that if you have some bitcoin in a wallet, this wallet will be copied with the same amount of bitcoin in the cloned Bitcoin Cash blockchain.
BUT ... if you want to be able to access your wallet in the Bitcoin Cash blockchain you will need to have the private key of your wallet.
If your bitcoins are on an exchange, you DO NOT have the private key.
STEP 1
So in order to have access to your private key you need to move your bitcoin to a wallet of your choice. I am using Electrum, but you are free to use any wallet which is listed here or use a hardware wallet, but I do not have, so I can't help you with it.
So moving your bitcoin in your private wallet is only the first step, AND you'll have to do it before the fork date (12:20 p.m. UTC on 2017-08-01), and to be on the safe side, do as soon as possible, as a lot of people might start doing the transfer soon and it could congest the network.
Moving your bitcoin to a private wallet was the first step, well done ! You shouldn't leave your bitcoins on any exchange anyway, as, as history shows, exchange get hacked regularly.
THEN you wait for the fork ....
STEP 2
Check Bitcoin Cash website and choose one of the wallet they offer http://www.electrumcash.org/ or https://www.bitcoinabc.org/ (which is the source code of the fork)
THEN DO NOT USE YOUR PRIVATE YET ! If you do, you might loose your real bitcoin...
So BEFORE using Bitcoin Cash wallet, and after the fork and after both network have stabilized (more on this in a later post), you transfer your real bitcoin to a new address.
Once the transfer is confirmed (wait for a large number of confirmation, I'd say at least 6 or more ), you can now use the Bitcoin Cash network with your private key, meaning importing the private key in the Bitcoin Cash wallet.
As I am writing this, I realize it's not that simple to explain, but hopefully you'll get the idea. Step 2 is still quite vague as the details of the new wallet are not released yet, but I will write a follow up article or a video to explain the process in detail.
SO IF THERE IS ONE THING, you need to remember from this article is that you NEED to move your bitcoins out of the exchanges, before August 1st.
Feel free to ask me any question in the comments, and I'll do my best to get you an answer or point you in the right direction.
ps: I do not support this fork, but as it seems inevitable we might as well profit from it.
Important update: 29.07.2017
Kraken will do the split for you. It means if your bitcoins are on Kraken you do not need to do anything. Kraken Blog
References
Project website - https://www.bitcoincash.org/
Monitor the hardfork - http://www.btcforkmonitor.info/
Project announcement on Bitcointalk - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2040221.0
