How I Prepared Myself For The Upcoming Bitcoin Forks

In case you haven't heard, Bitcoin is going to be FORKING again and again and again... and again? A total of 8 proposed forks are expected to form over the coming month or so.

Special thanks to @fatpandadesign for putting out an article a few days ago, which describes the upcoming forks in greater detail (https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@fatpandadesign/bitcoin-are-you-forking-kidding-me)

One important thing to note is that the first proposed fork on the list, BitcoinPlatinum, was supposed to fork at block 498533 but has since been postponed for whatever reasons. Their GitHub has a post up entirely in Korean so after translation it states:

• "However, there was a crucial mining-related problem at the original scheduled fork point of 498533 blocks, which inevitably delayed the fork schedule.
  In the future, we will resolve this defect as soon as possible and allow it to be completed until 500,000 blocks. " (Source: https://bitcoinplatinum.github.io/)
  

Meanwhile, SuperBitcoin is expected to skip ahead of BitcoinPlatinum and fork sometime tomorrow at block 498888.

The news of these upcoming splits made me finally jump into action in order to take advantage of these free crypto-dividends! In order to do this you need to be in control of YOUR OWN PRIVATE KEYS so you can export them and split off your own coins. It is important to remember that many exchanges will not be supporting these splits and will not have the markets ready in time since everything is happening so fast. As a result, any Bitcoin left on exchanges (say Coinbase for example) will not be eligible to receive these free gifts.

This is because Coinbase is a "custodial wallet" not a private wallet but that is a discussion for another day. Just know that they control the private keys and never show them to you. This means that they control your Bitcoin and consequently your crypto-dividends.

SO what should you do? SIMPLE - just move your Bitcoin into a private wallet such as Exodus, Electrum, or a similar private wallet where you can "export your private keys". This will allow you to split the money into two when the time comes.

At the time of the proposed forks, the blockchain will have a snapshot taken of it in order to keep track of balances on the new chain that will be forked off. After this snapshot time frame you can then export those private keys to a supporting wallet for the newly formed fork, or you can simply wait until you are ready. Those coins aren't going to go anywhere BUT you must make sure your BTC is in the right place at the right time :)!

In the meantime all I have to do is sit back and wait for my free presents this month.

If you have any questions or comments please let me know down below.

*Never invest more than you are willing to lose and always do your own research before making any investment decisions.