What will happen if I just keep my BTC on an exchange like Poloniex when the soft fork or hard fork happens?
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What will happen if I just keep my BTC on an exchange like Poloniex when the soft fork or hard fork happens?
OK. Well first off, if you keep your Bitcoin on an exchange like Poloniex, then they control the private keys to that Bitcoin and NOT you. So depending on how Poloniex chooses to support the various forks means that translates to you. If a hard fork happens and they don't support both chains then your missing out on gaining those coins in the other chain. Possible other conflicts may occur depending on how an exchange chooses to handle a situation like this. It's similar to the ETH and ETC fork where Coinbase mis-managed the fork and, from what I've heard, did not retrieve the other chains coins (ETC). To be safe, control your own private keys or transfer into altcoins during the turbulance. If you decide to keep your Bitcoin on an exchange you must understand fully how they plan to handle the forks. If you control your own private keys then your golden. I recommend anyone with a good amount of Bitcoin to invest and buy a Trezor hardware wallet. Hope that helps!