Bitcoin Q&A: What Happens to our Bitcoins During a Hard Fork?
What do we do with our bitcoins during a hard fork? Where do we store them? Are they safe? A hard fork (planned, accidental, or as a network-based attack) is "a permanent divergence from the previous version of the blockchain, and nodes running previous versions will no longer be accepted by the newest version." Hard forks in Bitcoin have so far not happened often or on a planned basis, because they have monetary consequences. If a hard fork does happen, your keys will control value (i.e. coins) on both chains because they have the same ancestry. It does mean you have "twice as many coins," but not in the way you think -- more than likely, they will be worth half as much or less. Ponzi schemes and inflation. Bitcoin is designed to be a resilient, self-healing, anti-fragile system, especially when it is being attacked all the time. If you directly control the private keys to your bitcoins, you're fine --- your coins aren't being invalidated or going anywhere. When the hard fork happens, you can just decide which chain you want to continue with. Wait until things clarify. If you don't control the private keys to your bitcoins (ex. on an exchange), move them to address that you control. If you don't, whoever controls your bitcoins will be deciding for you, and not all exchanges/ wallets will be supporting both sides of the fork. Chapters 0:00 What happens to our bitcoins during a hard fork? 0:19 Double the amount of coins is not a good thing 2:14 Bitcoin survivability 3:35 When to store and how to store? Is it your bitcoin? This is part of a talk which took place at the JW Marriott Sahar (International Airport) on March 26th 2017 in Mumbai, India: https://www.townscript.com/e/bitcoin-... RELATED: Introduction to Bitcoin - • Introduction to Bitcoin: what is bitcoin a... Bitcoin for Beginners - • Bitcoin for Beginners: Bitcoin Explained i... Blockchain for Beginners - • Blockchain for Beginners Embrace the Good, Reject the Fear - • Embrace the Good, Reject the Fear Are chain splits a governance failure? - • Bitcoin Q&A: Are Chain Splits a Governance... The dangers of hard forks in protocol evolution - • Bitcoin Q&A: The Dangers of Hard Forks in ... Hard forks and the cultural mulligan - • Ethereum Q&A: Hard forks & the cultural mu... Hot vs. cold wallets - • Bitcoin Q&A: Hot vs. Cold Wallets Divisibility and deflationary monetary policy - • Bitcoin Q&A: Divisibility and Deflationary... Who determines the value of bitcoins? - • Price Volatility: Who Determines the Value... How to get people to care about security - • Bitcoin Q&A: How to Get People to Care Abo... Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a technologist and serial entrepreneur who has become one of the most well-known and well-respected figures in bitcoin. Follow on Twitter: @aantonop / aantonop Website: https://antonopoulos.com/ He is the author of two books: “Mastering Bitcoin,” published by O’Reilly Media and considered the best technical guide to bitcoin; “The Internet of Money,” a book about why bitcoin matters. Subscribe to the channel to learn more about Bitcoin & open blockchains; click on the red bell to enable notifications about new videos! MASTERING BITCOIN, 2nd Edition: https://amzn.to/2xcdsY9 Translations of MASTERING BITCOIN: https://bitcoinbook.info/translations... THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v1: https://amzn.to/2ykmXFs THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v2: https://amzn.to/2IIG5BJ Translations of THE INTERNET OF MONEY: Spanish, 'Internet del Dinero' (v1) - https://amzn.to/2yoaTTq French, 'L'internet de l'argent' (v1) - https://www.amazon.fr/Linternet-large... Russian, 'Интернет денег' (v1) - https://www.olbuss.ru/catalog/ekonomi... Vietnamese, 'Internet Của Tiền Tệ' (v1) - https://alphabooks.vn/khi-tien-len-mang MASTERING ETHEREUM (Q4): https://amzn.to/2xdxmlK Videography: Zebpay Bitcoin India Music: "Unbounded" by Orfan ( / orfan ) Outro Graphics: Phneep (http://www.phneep.com/) Outro Art: Rock Barcellos (http://www.rockincomics.com.br/) Join the aantonop Channel: https://aantonop.io/joinaantonopyt
