Don't Lose Your Bitcoin During the SegWit2x Hard Fork: Secure it Now

If your Bitcoin is currently at an exchange, you are at risk of losing it during the SegWit2x hard fork that is set to take place on November 15. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security because your Bitcoin got through the Bitcoin Gold block snapshot without a hitch. This is different.

Bitcoin Gold was a friendly fork. That is, they were forking Bitcoin to create an altcoin, not attempting to become the 'real' Bitcoin. SegWit2x is not friendly towards Bitcoin and is more of a takeover bid. Much like Bitcoin Cash, whose proponents call it the 'real' Bitcoin, while they refer to the actual real Bitcoin as Segwit Bitcoin.

With the price of Bitcoin at all time highs, it is just too big of a risk to leave your Bitcoin on an exchange during SegWit2x. Many different scenarios could play out, and just because your Bitcoin has been held on an exchange without a problem in the past, doesn't mean it will be this time. You only need to get it wrong once and your Bitcoin is gone. Talk to, or read the stories of those who lost Bitcoin at the Mt Gox exchange and you'll get a feel for what it's like to have no control over your Bitcoin when things go wrong.

To secure your Bitcoin, get a hardware wallet, such as a Trezor or Ledger Nano S. Next, send your Bitcoin from the exchange to your hardware wallet. Once this is done, you will now control your own Bitcoin private key, rather than the exchange having and controlling it. You have also secured your Bitcoin against anything that goes wrong on exchanges during the fork.

In addition to keeping your Bitcoin safe, as someone who controls your own private key, you ensure that you will be rewarded with a number of SegWit2x coins equivalent to your number of Bitcoin. There is no guarantee of this if your Bitcoin is on an exchange. These free coins can later be exchanged for more Bitcoin. The actual real Bitcoin that is.