Quote from: brybot on April 24, 2011, 08:12:28 PM

Hey all,

I am new here. I read through the FAQs and some of the technical details but I still don't have a complete understanding of the system. I was wondering what would happen if I spend my bitcoins, but meanwhile elsewhere in the network another block chain becomes longer and is accepted as the official block chain. The way I understand the bitcoins to work is that I keep my secret keys on my computer and as soon as I spend them, the key changes to a new secret key for the next person. Is that assumption correct? Anyway, what would happen if I spend my coins but then another chain turns out to be longer? Am I just out of luck?

Thanks

I think I understand what you're asking - you broadcast a transaction to everyone, so it should be included in both chains eventually, so it doesn't matter what chain is the longest.