For months, we have been hearing about a possible bitcoin split. No matter how many times we heard that there are several options to avert the split, it seems that by August 1st, 2017 we will have a split in any case. At least that is what we can gather from the ViaBTC reports. It seems that ViaBTC will allow investors to start trading the split coin, called Bitcoin Cash – BCC – SegWit2x notwithstanding. At this point it looks like the community will have both BTC and BCC come August 1st.
User Activated Hard Fork
Once the fork takes place, users who control their private keys – mainly those who do not hold their coins on exchanges – will have the same amount of coins on both chains. So, if for example, Bob Peters had 3 BTC before the split, now he will have 3 BTC and 3 BCC. But the problem with the User Activated Hard Fork that will create Bitcoin Cash on August 1st, is deeper than that. Some miners could ditch the BTC chain to mine on the Bitcoin Cash chain instead.
Hashing Power Threats and More Following Bitcoin Cash Fork
Depending on how many of the miners stop mining on BTC to mine on the Bitcoin Cash chain, users might experience the following:
- Slower transactions until difficulty readjusts on BTC.
- Less secure transactions with the possibility of replay attacks.
- Larger than expected price fluctuations, given that BCC holders may dump all their BTC at once and vice versa.
Stay Safe!
These are just some of the possible threats that the BTC chain may suffer in the short term. However, users must take those threats into consideration, and keep their funds safe until everything stabilizes. The recommendation of any respectable source at this point is to take control over private keys, back them up, and keep them safe – probably offline or in a hardware wallet if possible. As for the forks, no one knows how this is going to play out exactly. All of us will have to wait and see.
Further Recommendations
Bitcoin Chaser recommends that you keep on reading, get information from various trustworthy sources and keep your coins safe. Hopefully August 1st will pass without any further problems, but it seems that a chain split and the emergence of Bitcoin Cash will be a reality, SegWit2x notwithstanding. For those interested in understanding what BCC is all about, visit their official website. For now, it seems that BCC will have liquidity in Chinese Yuan. It is unclear whether the main exchanges will allow users to trade BCC from August 1st onwards or at all. We will be giving our readers updates as soon as more information becomes available.
Click here to visit the official Bitcoin Cash website.
