Bitcoin Q&A: SegWit, Scaling, and Consensus

What will happen in the next couple of weeks regarding the upgrade to SegWit and the potential for a network fork? How do I keep my bitcoin safe? Ask your wallet providers and exchanges what they're going to do (if you trust them).

Chapters
0:00 Would you be able to just talk us through, or provide some comments, in relation to the whole SegWit debate and scaling issues with Bitcoin? How you think that will play out over the next month or two with a few of the key dates coming up?
0:47 Fork explained
2:31 There has been an ongoing scaling debate for the last two years, which is about how to make bitcoin support more transactions.
3:24 Three competing proposals
4:41 You must control your own bitcoin

RELATED:

Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a technologist and serial entrepreneur who has become one of the most well-known and well-respected figures in bitcoin.

He is the author of two books: “Mastering Bitcoin,” published by O’Reilly Media and considered the best technical guide to bitcoin; “The Internet of Money,” a book about why bitcoin matters.

Subscribe to the channel to learn more about Bitcoin & open blockchains!

[XENONEZZ]

Excellent and education just wish the sound quality could be improved for these videos .

[walterbril]

Love the end of the video. It's exactly that: We have created an enormous, complex society to "ensure" trust. Created zillions of b*llsh*t jobs. The last couple of years should have woken up a lot of people, and still... Well spoken!

[chrisiden]

im with coinbase and they are FDIC Regulated for $250, 000 of your funds
i dont think they are going to run away with my money, although i do have a ledger wallet for bitcoin...
just saying, coinbase, for example has been very prompt with me in answering my question and has gained my trust... and i do sleep soundly although im excited to watch the price action with the crypto currency ... thanks for ur video today as always very well done!

[JonathanCrss]

The statements here are generally good advice, however keeping your Bitcoin on a reputable exchange (eg Kraken, Bitstamp)[1] is not necessarily a bad idea. It is dangerous because these centralized exchanges might go bankrupt or steal the money, get hacked, etc. but those are always issues, nothing related with Aug 1 UASF.[2]

For those without significant technical skills, an exchange might be a *_better_* option for ensuring you properly isolate coins (against replay attacks) in the case of a chain split. You are trusting the exchange to handle this properly, but that is not necessary a bad thing. They will have an incentive to do it correctly and make coins on both chains exchangeable ASAP. This is what we saw with ETC fork.

I respect Andreas and agree that we should remind users that "if you don't control the keys, it's not your Bitcoin". However in the case of a permanent chain split, this may temporarily be less of a concern than the likelihood of screwing something up while spending from your ancient paper wallet for example.

Finally, it should be noted that in the case of a chain split, bitcoin deposits and withdrawals will almost certainly be temporarily disabled at exchanges. The bitcoins and split coins, will probably be trade-able soon after the split, so those with coins on an exchange will probably be able to sell / buy sooner. If there is very dramatic price movement (likely), then having at least some coins at an exchange would be a very good idea.

[1] Note this does not apply to random unmaintained wallets, web wallets, small exchanges, etc, definitely consider moving your money out of those.

[davidhornstein]

Hi Guys,
Would it be a good idea to sell some bitcoins now before august 1st and wait for potential good buy?
Thank You

[adammanir]

You are grate dude !!!... but the audio in your videos kills me !!! :(

[jllarivee]

is coinomi wallet a 3rd party? I have my own keys but I'm using their app to keep my wallet(s) on. is this safe?

[victor_tlm]

What can I use to "control" my bitcoin ? I'm worried about a desktop wallet if my computer dies, and for hardwares wallet (cold storage) I'm worried to lose them.... do you have any alternative so I can control my coins?

[ericcandelario]

Has he ever spoken about bitconnect? Anyone have thoughts on it?

[jahmaican]

If you have coins on bitcoins core wallet is that ok because it has no 12 word phrase

[mattfm]

I don't understand how you will access the two coins

[ChippyLasticko]

Wait.. did he just say that a hard fork would double your BTC (given you're not holding on an exchange)??

[hasanain.]

so not having on exchanges on wallet like. anyone can recommend me a wallet having them on ledger nano ate they safe there and if it sppliys I own 2coins

[usercos]

may 2023 :
as if bitcoin core mining is still done on low end hardware and done by small individuals. (no!)

this is clearly not the case.

bitcoin core transactions have been pending and high fees again, (5years after the scaling debate)
and layer 2 (lightning) still does not work in all cases.

bitcoin cash (with bigger blocks) works well, many fast.transactions and low fees, since august 2017.

but it is not hyped as bitcoin 'digital gold'...

[DaniilDimitrov]

Finally . Now IOTA and tangle technology !

[GRMAITREYA]

The problem isn't bitcoin. Bitcoin can be decentralized all day but it doesn't matter. The problem is exchanges and wallets which are centralized by greedy individuals who only want to line their own pockets and until that gets fixed, bitcoin is no different than any other stock or commodity.

[simoprdev]

6:55 I hope Bitcoin won't do that too :D