BAD news Potential Network Disruption

Last updated: Wed Jul 12 2017 17:00:00 GMT+0500 (Pakistan Standard Time). This page will be updated when new information becomes available. See the list of updates.

At Tue Aug 01 2017 05:00:00 GMT+0500 (Pakistan Standard Time), Bitcoin confirmation scores may become unreliable for an unknown length of time. This means that any bitcoins you receive after that time may later disappear from your wallet or be a type of bitcoin that other people will not accept as payment.

Once the situation is resolved, confirmation scores will either automatically return to their normal reliability or there will be two (or more) competing versions of Bitcoin. In the former case, you may return to using Bitcoin normally; in the later case, you will need to take extra steps in order to begin safely receiving bitcoins again.

This post currently describes what actions you can take to prepare for this situation. Subsequent to Tue Aug 01 2017 05:00:00 GMT+0500 (Pakistan Standard Time), we will update this post as best we can with relevant information, but you are also advised to monitor other Bitcoin news sites and community resources for updates and to cross-check all information, as someone may attempt to spread false news in order to exploit the situation.

Remember that you alone are responsible for the safety of your bitcoins, and that if you lose control of them for any reason, there is nothing the operators or contributors to this website can do to help you.

Note: there is a chance a milder level of disruption could start between now and Tue Aug 01 2017 05:00:00 GMT+0500 (Pakistan Standard Time). If that is the case, this post will be updated with details.

Preparation

If you accept bitcoins as payments, we recommend that you stop accepting Bitcoin payments at least 12 hours before Tue Aug 01 2017 05:00:00 GMT+0500 (Pakistan Standard Time), although 24 to 48 hours earlier may be safer. This will give time for all pending payments to confirm on the Bitcoin block chain before the event.

If you send bitcoins as payments, note that many services may stop accepting bitcoins at Tue Aug 01 2017 05:00:00 GMT+0500 (Pakistan Standard Time) or earlier.

Be wary of storing your bitcoins on an exchange or any service that doesn’t allow you to make a local backup copy of your private keys. If they accept transactions during the event, they could lose money and will likely spread those loses across all their users. If there end up being two or more competing versions of Bitcoin, then they may refuse to give you your bitcoins on versions they don’t like.

Bitcoin may experience significant price fluctuations in relation to other currencies. Learn more about price volatility and ensure you aren’t holding more bitcoin than you can afford to lose.

During the event

Do not trust any payments you receive after Tue Aug 01 2017 05:00:00 GMT+0500 (Pakistan Standard Time) until the situation is resolved. No matter how many confirmations the new payment says it has, it can disappear from your wallet at any point up until the situation is resolved.

Try not to send any payments. During the event there may be two or more different types of bitcoin and you may send all of the different types to a recipient who only expects one type. This would benefit the recipient at your expense.

Be wary of offers to allow you to invest in the outcome of the event by “splitting” your coins. Some of these offers may be scams, and software claiming to split your coins can also steal them.

After the event

We will update this section with more information after Tue Aug 01 2017 05:00:00 GMT+0500 (Pakistan Standard Time). Please monitor this page accordingly and wait until multiple news sources that you trust have stated that the event is resolved before returning to normal Bitcoin use.

Document history

A full history of this document is available. The following points summarize major changes, with the most recent changes being listed first.
https://bitcoin.org/en/alert/2017-07-12-potential-split