
Ask HN: I have Bitcoin in Coinbase, what should I do before the forks? - briantmaurer
I have some bitcoin in Coinbase and I&#x27;m not a bitcoin expert, should I move my coins before the upcoming forks?
======
dogma1138
You don't have bitcoin on Coinbase you have an entry in a database that says
Coinbase owes you X amount of bitcoins.

Yes it's a little more complicated than that but the analogy still stands.

Coinbase is a hosted wallet with no key control meaning that you do not have
any control over the transactions of that wallet.

The other aspect of Coinbase is a nice interface for the GDAX exchange with
about double the fees.

In either case if you care about the security of your investment create an
wallet transfer the bitcoin into it and keep it offline.

For the fork you would like to use a node that is compatible with the proposal
you support, if you have no opinions I suggest just accept the current leading
consensus and be done with it.

~~~
briantmaurer
What is a good way to create a personal bitcoin wallet?

p.s. I studied computer science, am reasonably fluent in computer security,
but not a crypto or bitcoin expert.

~~~
Keeeeeeeks
Blockchain.info, but not sure how they intend to handle the fork. May be best
to set up a personal wallet using the mentioned link

~~~
Grangar
Blockchain.info doesn't give you control over your own keys IIRC. Use an
actual client, not a website.

------
zby
I cannot find it on-line - but I have received a following message from
Coinbase (<no-reply@coinbase.com>):

""" Dear Coinbase Customer,

The User Activated Hard Fork (UAHF) is a proposal to increase the Bitcoin
block size scheduled to activate on August 1. The UAHF is incompatible with
the current Bitcoin ruleset and will create a separate blockchain. Should UAHF
activate on August 1, Coinbase will not support the new blockchain or its
associated coin.

The User Activated Soft Fork (UASF) is a proposal to adopt Segregated Witness
on the Bitcoin blockchain and could result in network instability. It is
scheduled to activate at the same time as the UAHF.

To ensure the safety of customers’ funds, we will temporarily suspend bitcoin
deposits, withdrawals, and buy/sell starting approximately 4 hours before
activation of either fork.

If you currently have bitcoin in your Coinbase account, and do not wish to
have access to UAHF coins or have immediate access to your bitcoin, you are
not required to take any action.

If you wish to have access to UAHF coins or you wish to have immediate access
to your bitcoin, you should send your bitcoin from Coinbase to your external
address by July 31.

For more information on how to send bitcoin from your Coinbase account, please
refer to this article:
[https://support.coinbase.com/customer/portal/articles/971437](https://support.coinbase.com/customer/portal/articles/971437).

Thank you,

Coinbase Team """

This is very worrying. If a split happens each bitcoin will exist on two
forked chains, that is it will become two coins - both will have some value
(even if minimal). And now Coinbase announces that it will let users withdraw
only one of them. What will they do with the other? Sell it somewhere?

Maybe the email is fake?

Update: Looks like on their blog they changed the message:

""" Customers who wish to access both blockchains at the time of the hard fork
should withdraw their BTC from Coinbase since we cannot guarantee what will
happen during the hard fork or when this access may be available. """
[https://blog.coinbase.com/update-for-customers-with-
bitcoin-...](https://blog.coinbase.com/update-for-customers-with-bitcoin-
stored-on-coinbase-904dea08ac5f) that sounds a lot saner.

~~~
apeace
That's odd. Coinbase was part of the New York Agreement[0], which are the
group supporting the UAHF.

Both this email and the blog post make it sound as if Coinbase support the
Core side, i.e. the UASF.

Can someone explain what I'm missing?

[0] [https://medium.com/@DCGco/bitcoin-scaling-agreement-at-
conse...](https://medium.com/@DCGco/bitcoin-scaling-agreement-at-
consensus-2017-133521fe9a77)

~~~
makomk
If I recall correctly, the New York Agreement is Segwit2x. UAHF is something
else with little support.

------
0x4f3759df
Move it to a hardware wallet.

"What happens to your bitcoins in case of a chain-split?"
[https://blog.trezor.io/trezor-advisory-uasf-chain-split-
fork...](https://blog.trezor.io/trezor-advisory-uasf-chain-split-
fork-2f95cf2c11a0)

~~~
bdcravens
Having purchased two in the past couple of months, if you select the rush
option (18 euros I think), you get it in 3-5 days (to US - other side of ocean
probably faster) as opposed to getting it next month sometime due to demand.

------
theoneone
I am not an expert but I think the split will ruin the magic. And if the first
split occurs then why not a second one in 2-3 years? I see the split happening
as a massive chance for quick cash for the big players( even though I can't
prove it with fact, just my guts saying). I hope I'm wrong and continue living
the dream.

------
zero_one_one
Transfer them out to a paper or hardware wallet at a time when transactions
are still visibly being hashed at a regular rate (overly cautious advice, but
who's to say 100% that the miners don't decide to down tools for a day in
protest?), but I'd suggest you do this a couple of days before August 1st to
avoid the transactions being clobbered in the case of a fork.

Monitor the exchanges for a couple of days (you'll now be holding the coin on
both sides of the fork), and when you feel the time is right to commit to one
or either side, import your keys from the paper wallet to a wallet that
supports the side of the fork you like the look of the most.

Basic advice is to hold, but hold safely - in a place that you have full
control of your assets.

~~~
philh
Do you have to commit to one or the other? Or could you transfer out from the
paper wallet on both chains?

~~~
zero_one_one
No - Your coins are safe under the single private key (i.e. wallet) on both
chains, as all transactions prior to the fork are safely recorded on the
blockchain for both forks (assuming the transaction out to the paper wallet
was recorded to the existing single blockchain before the fork).

Your private key can be imported from the paper wallet to a wallet for both
branches of the fork, meaning you'll have two wallets with the same amount of
coin on each of the two blockchains - these can be sent independently of each
other to wherever you like (as each branch of the fork will ignore the
transactions of the other - in theory).

The only reason to commit to one of the two would be the perceived value of
one over the other, and whether you want 'double' your eggs in one basket
(perceived financial value ratio of one to the other notwidthstanding).

Again, the value of both will more than likely take a hit during (and for a
while after) the fork, so please don't harbour illusions about doubling your
investment overnight!

There will be plenty here on HN who know more about this however, so any
corrections to the above are welcome.

------
jpdus
Does anyone have an opinion on the Blockchain.info wallet? This is, what they
wrote:

"""Hello,

At this time Blockchain.info has no official stance on this debate. We are
actively monitoring bitcoin network conditions and will work to minimize any
potential impact to our users. In general, we follow the longest chain, as
outlined in the white paper
([https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf](https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf)).

With that said you always have 100% control over your funds and private keys.
Your wallet recovery phrase is compatible with any other BIP39/BIP44 wallet.
So in essence no matter what happens you have control of these funds and can
import them into any other wallet that our mnemonic/seed is compatible with.
"""

------
jrader
So when Bitcoin hardforks, coinbase is saying they wont "support" the new
fork... but since they have the private keys, doesn't that mean they're
essentially keeping all the hardfork coins for themselves?

------
soyrunner
I don't trade much. Pretty much just holding onto my btc parking it on
Coinbase. I hear that slow transactions are part of the problem that led to
the pending possible fork. That transaction fees have gone up. How much higher
has it gotten, e.g. how much would it cost to move 1 btc from Coinbase to my
Bitcoin-QT Core Wallet.dat and then how much to move it from Bitcoin-QT
wallet.dat to a HW.1 hardware wallet? Thanks. Could the whole scare be to
generate fees and sell hardware wallets? (Wish MtGox had made good while btc
was lower.)

~~~
soyrunner
Strange, for two days now I've been trying to login to bitcointalk.org and get
an invalid login. When I do the Ask a question for invalid logins I get
invalid login again.

------
bit_nomad
Generally it's not a good option to let them sit on somewhere where you don't
control the keys.. I would advise transferring them to a paper or hardware
wallet like a Trezor, cheers

------
btouellette
[https://blog.coinbase.com/update-for-customers-with-
bitcoin-...](https://blog.coinbase.com/update-for-customers-with-bitcoin-
stored-on-coinbase-904dea08ac5f)

It looks like if there is a hardfork then Coinbase will just keep your coins
on the chain that they don't want to continue supporting. I would move coins
to a wallet that you control (preferably something or somewhere not network
accessible) beforehand so that you keep your coins on both chains.

------
zazpowered
I moved mine to my own wallet on Electrum
[https://electrum.org/#home](https://electrum.org/#home)

~~~
burger_moon
This is where I store my bitcoin. Is there anything I need to do or be
concerned about with this fork for users who keep their bitcoin local?

As a side note, does anyone have a suggested wallet for storing ether?

~~~
paxpelus
MyEtherWallet is a sane wallet. They have their code in github so you can run
locally, they have a .com website and a chrome extension. Personally I create
some paper wallets and keep them safe, then I use MyEtherWallet chrome plugin
for read-only access to the wallets. When I want to spend some ETH I scan the
private key and spend immediately. All the excess funds form the transaction
goes into another "locked" paper wallet.

------
kylegordon
Move it all to a wallet you control. You then get to choose when and where to
spend/transfer it.

Personally, I went with a multitude of paper wallets.

------
sudders
Convert it to ETH

~~~
Sindrome
This is the play

------
soyrunner
If I move my coins from Coinbase to a Bitcoin-QT wallet, is there a chance
that the blockchain the Bitcoin-QT maintains will lose if a fork happens? In
that case would keeping the coins on Coinbase mean a higher probability
they're remain good?

------
1ba9115454
I would recommend transferring your BTC to a wallet that let's you manage your
own private key such as [https://strongcoin.com](https://strongcoin.com)

------
dollaholla
You shouldn't keep it in coinbase regardless. I prefer the Nano Ledger S

------
eecks
I have coins in coinbase. Should I transfer them to a btc.com wallet?

------
dabockster
Move it to a downloadable wallet on your machine.

And, as always, buy the dip.

~~~
soyrunner
By dip I assume you don't mean dual inline package which is an IC form where
one can add or remove the IC from a socket, typically 8, 14, or 16 but larger
sockets were used too.

If one puts one's btc onto a hardware wallet, e.g. HW.1, then the coins have
been moved from the wallet on the computer or are they a copy of that which is
on the computer?

~~~
zero_one_one
Along the same lines, could we start describing the value of Bitcoin breaking
through a price ceiling as Surface Mounting? :)

------
sharemywin
you can always convert it to another coin:

[https://shapeshift.io/#/coins](https://shapeshift.io/#/coins)

------
2_listerine_pls
remain calm and sell sell sell sell!

~~~
quickthrower
Hodl

