The Great Bitcoin Split of 2017 (August 1st)

[KuJoe]

So it looks like Bitcoin is splitting into two cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. The reason for this is to improve scaling since right now the Bitcoin blockchain is so large the time between transactions (which are used to facilitate the sending and receiving of bitcoins) is increasing more and more lately which results in less income for miners who facilitate these transactions (and less miners, even longer times between transactions). There are multiple proposed changes to reduce these transactions times but the one that's causing the most confusion and uncertainty within the market is the splitting into two different crypto-currencies. As it stand right now, depending on where your BTC is stored on August 1st it might be converted to Bitcoin Cash while some online wallets are holding on to the original version.

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The probability of a blockchain split on August 1st has abated somewhat in the final week of July, though uncertainty remains over what is actually going to happen in a matter of days that could change sentiment for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general, on a permanent basis, depending upon the outcome and impact on Bitcoin holders.

Volatility in Bitcoin’s price is reflective of the uncertainty ahead and the possible ramifications of a hard fork, with Bitcoin prices having eased in recent days as different groups shift support, adding to the uncertainty ahead of Monday’s anticipated Bitcoin fork event.

Source: https://www.fxempire.com/news/article/will-bitcoin-network-split-two-august-1st-things-need-know-425209

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Bitcoin's scaling debate finally seems to be shaking out, but some users aren't happy with the results.

 

After a few years of debate, it was perhaps to be expected that at least some were going to come away empty-handed. Controversial scaling proposal Segwit2x tried to remedy this by joining two code change ideas – the code optimization Segregated Witness (SegWit) and a block size increase.

 

Today, SegWit is just a couple of steps away from activating on bitcoin, but some bitcoin users are unhappy about the outcome.

 

Others who originally backed the Segwit2x proposal appear to be losing confidence in an eventual block size increase and are now taking matters into their own hands by making their own version of bitcoin – and they're doing so on a short timeline.

 

On August 1, at precisely 12:20 UTC, the group claims that they will split off from bitcoin, creating a new cryptocurrency called Bitcoin Cash.

Source: https://www.coindesk.com/coindesk-explainer-bitcoin-cash-forking-blockchain/

 

I don't hold any BTC at the moment, but my company accepts BTC payments so this is an interesting development indeed. Last year it took an hour at most to get 6 confirmations per transaction (the number of confirmations Bitcoin declares to be a valid payment), the past few months I've seen payments take 4+ hours to confirm, even after lowering the threshold to 3 confirmations. Worse yet, buyers are paying higher fees to give their payments "priority" to get confirmed more quickly.

[imreloadin]

It'll be a fun day watching the volatility this creates in the price of Bitcoin

[KuJoe]

47 minutes ago, imreloadin said:

It'll be a fun day watching the volatility this creates in the price of Bitcoin

I was expecting this to have an impact on the price of BTC, but it's only been going up since the news broke. I've received one e-mail already from a company I order from that said they aren't accepting BTC payments until further notice (most likely not until after the split). But then companies like BitPay announce they won't suspend payments and it will be business as usual because the risk of theft/fraud won't be that high (albeit significantly higher than before the split). From what I read, there will be about a 24 hour window where people can fake bitcoin payments under the right conditions so it's recommend to wait 30 confirmations on August 1st to be sure the payments are legit.

[Bcat00]

Ooh i cant wait for this nonsense to blow and people start screaming and jumping off bridges.

[LucidMew]

Yaknow, with so many different opinions on how to make bitcoin scalable (spoiler alert: it aint), it's almost like there needs to be some sort of higher power with authority that takes in "the community"'s feedback and implements a plan that everybody follows. Otherwise bitcoin will fragment into pieces with so many fringe groups trying to exploit it for their own gain.

[Matt_Lefebvre]

If anyone has any BTC left in exchanges, get it out now, regardless of fees - to an offline wallet or move to ETH and then offline.

No one knows whats going to happen - and at least having ETH offline will be safer than BTC or BTCC in any way shape or form.

[elfensky]

I have 100€ on stand-by to spend on cc if the price drops by any significant margin. Not a lot in the big scheme of things, but I hope to make some money off it.

[elfensky]

25 minutes ago, Matt_Lefebvre said:

If anyone has any BTC left in exchanges, get it out now, regardless of fees - to an offline wallet or move to ETH and then offline.

No one knows whats going to happen - and at least having ETH offline will be safer than BTC or BTCC in any way shape or form.

Just checked, they don't allow it anymore (31->1) and, well, since the ones I use are gonna keep using the main fork, disregarding BTC-cash, I don't think there's that much risk.Then again, all I have in btc/eth is around 300-400€, so it's not the end of the world, even if it's gonna be painful.

 

I should have kept track of what was happening in the BTC world.

 

edit: it's 31 my time, not US/company time... But if I get it out, I'll have to deal with fees of moving it and so on "groan". And I'll have to update the BTC Core chain again, and that's gonna take forever... (Or are there ways to get a local wallet without having the whole blockchain? I honestly never got that deep into it. Online wallets did it for me.)

[Rubymaster]

I just read an article about this and was going to post it. Your post must have gotten buried by all the Vega and Threadripper news.

[Deletive]

No one really cares about Bitcoin Cash... people are going to profit with it and move it back onto bitcoin.

It's going to be like ETH and ETC, most people don't know what ETC is.

[Deletive]

On 7/30/2017 at 7:39 AM, KuJoe said:

I was expecting this to have an impact on the price of BTC, but it's only been going up since the news broke. I've received one e-mail already from a company I order from that said they aren't accepting BTC payments until further notice (most likely not until after the split). But then companies like BitPay announce they won't suspend payments and it will be business as usual because the risk of theft/fraud won't be that high (albeit significantly higher than before the split). From what I read, there will be about a 24 hour window where people can fake bitcoin payments under the right conditions so it's recommend to wait 30 confirmations on August 1st to be sure the payments are legit.

It did impact the price of bitcoin, for a bit, someone dropped 1000 bitcoin, and it dropped to $2,5xx

afterwards people realized if BCC is supported you get the same amount of BCC as the amount of BTC you have, so Bitcoin has been rising since everyone has been dropping their Altcoins to make money in BTC for after the york and captialize on the gains of BCC.

[The Benjamins]

On 7/30/2017 at 6:22 PM, Matt_Lefebvre said:

If anyone has any BTC left in exchanges, get it out now, regardless of fees - to an offline wallet or move to ETH and then offline.

No one knows whats going to happen - and at least having ETH offline will be safer than BTC or BTCC in any way shape or form.

if you have BTC in a wallet you fully manage before the split you will have that amount in BTC and BCH at the end of it.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

On 7/31/2017 at 0:14 AM, LucidMew said:

it's almost like there needs to be some sort of higher power with authority that takes in "the community"'s feedback and implements a plan that everybody follows. Otherwise bitcoin will fragment into pieces with so many fringe groups trying to exploit it for their own gain.

It almost sounds like reinventing the wheel... oh, wait 

[Waites4N1]

i just made a new post on this cause Ars Technica did a small article on it and i couldn't find this discussion, but thanks for posting the extra info. i'm really enjoying learning about al lthis crypto currency market that is ruining my GPU prices =P