This is right.  Don't think of a fork as dividing bitcoin into two pieces.  Think of it as creating a parallel universe.  (The fiat money invested would divide though.)

I read somewhere that BTC-XT is programmed to disconnect from BTC-core once it reaches the 75% threshold, so it would be two separate networks.  Someone else can confirm?

I think waiting as long as possible is the most conservative and least ballsy action.  I believe that 1 BTC-prefork = 1 BTC-core + 1 BTC-XT.  Both of these values can go up and down since bitcoin is very volatile, but by doing nothing, I wouldn't expect to gain or loose (unless I have a prediction of which way the marked is going, but I'm not a market analyst.)

If I were to sell one or the other right away (or as soon as possible), I'd be gamboling on which fork will hold the value in the long run.  I might (roughly) double my money, or I might loose it all.

So as I understand it:  I have 1BTC.  The blockchian forks, I now have 1BTC-core + 1BTC-XT.  I continue to do nothing, and this balance remains.  After a time, the value of these different coins (in fiat terms) diverges.  Someday, I decide to sell for fiat.  If I've waited long enough, I think one of those coins is probably worthless, so I probably don't want to bother separating them. If I want to separate them, I can do so by the method in the OP.

It is worth noting that BTC-XT is not necessarily the one that gets the value (even though it has greater than 75% of the network).  If the people who are buying bitcoins with fiat are more confident in btc-core, than that is where the money will go, and that is the version that will have more value (even though it's network is smaller).

In this case, why wouldn't people move their wealth to LTC?  And why wouldn't LTC have the same problem as its transactions increase?

This has actually been quite useful.  Electrum is pretty much what I was looking for (or paper wallets, which I've learned a little bit about as well).  Since the address is generated offline, I don't have to trust anyone other than myself to hold the bitcoin.  I know that I have to trust someone when I buy them, but I don't mind that since it's only for a short period of time.  I can just buy and then transfer to the address that I control.  What I wanted to avoid was a situation where I buy some bit coin, and then someone holds it and I have no way of knowing if they actually bought it, or if they still have it, or if they could walk off with it.

This is the case with Xapo for example.  I'm not saying they are risky, I don't know.  Based on the interview with their founder that got me thinking about bitcoin, I'm guessing they are okay, but I want to take the risk myself, otherwise, I'm happy just keeping my fiat currency in the bank.

For those who got into things like "technically not encrypted" or "linux distro" you're on the edge of my technical understanding, and if bitcoin is ever going to take off, it'll have to be accessible to people much less technically inclined than I am.  I hope that is the direction it goes.  If so, it's a good time to get into it.


Thanks for your help all.

So I'm looking to get some bitcoins securely, but I'm not sure how to go about it. 

Whatever site I use, how can I be sure that they won't run off with my bitcoins like Mt. Gox?  I just read recently that there may be issues with blockchain.info.  I'd like to know how to get bitcoins without having to trust ANYONE.  This is one of the most appealing aspects of bitcoin, but I haven't been able to figure out how to do it.  Everywhere I look, it seems like I'd just be opening a "bank" account that would hold bitcoins for me.  Maybe I could then transfer them to a different "bank", but how do I get the "cash".  (I think this would mean having the address and private key, but I don't know if this is totally correct.)



(This seems like a simple question that must have been covered before, but I haven't found anything by searching.)


Thanks for your help.