Bitcoin network can face disruption in the near future

Bitcoin.org announced possible network disruptions for bitcoin users on August 01, 2017. According to Bitcoin Core developers, on that day the chain may experience a chain split and remain unstable for some period of time. For bitcoin owners it can be an unpleasant situation as some of their bitcoins can disappear from wallets or other users may not accept them as payment.

Such possible split of the network is explained by a launch of an alternative software in late July, which can be incompatible with some nodes of a bitcoin chain. As a result, certain nodes can generate damaged transactions, which other nodes may not accept or recognize.

Once the situation is resolved, confirmation scoring will be back to its normal state and users will be able to use bitcoins in a normal mode or there will be two or more competing versions of Bitcoin as a result of a split block chain. In the latter case, you will need to take extra steps in order to safely receive bitcoins.

Developers explained to bitcoin owners, which steps should be done on the eve and on August 01, 2017.

The day before:

1. It is recommended to stop accepting Bitcoin payments at least 12 hours before the specified date, or even 24–48 before. This will give time to confirm all pending payments in the chain.
2. Those who send bitcoins as payments have to pay attention to services accepting them as they may stop accepting bitcoins starting from the specified date.
3. Bitcoin owners have to be careful storing them on an exchange or any other services that doesn’t allow to make a local backup copy of private keys.
4. Significant price fluctuations of Bitcoin in relation to other currencies are possible.

On August 01, 2017:

1. Do not trust any payments received after this date until the situation clarifies.
2. Do not send any payments because they can bifurcate and you may benefit the recipient at the expense of the sender.
3. Bitcoin owners have to be careful in case of any offers to “split” their coins as they can be initiated by frauds.

Bitcoin.org notifies in advance that Bitcoin owners are solely responsible for their coins and in case of lack of control over them operators of the website will be unable to help.