There are many folks around here much more qualified to provide the answer to this question, and I wrote this to explain what I'm doing and why, but also to elicit discussion from the true experts.
I haven't seen much discussion on what to do about the potential hardfork of BTC in simple, plain language for the unwashed masses like me who don't have an advanced understanding of blockchain technology. The beekeeping pictures are provided to promote my favorite hobby and to break up the otherwise boring text.
My first exposure to Bitcoin was in 2009 when I was selling private investment vehicles to rich folks and institutional investors. I and my colleagues all had a belly laugh over what we thought was a stupid idea. Unfortunately for me, I dismissed it and didn't research it thoroughly. I rediscovered and took a closer look about a year ago and I am very happy I did. My initial investment in cryptocurrency is worth 3x what it was -- not because I'm really smart -- it is merely due to some fortunate timing and catching the vision of what blockchain technology can do for us.
Ethereum Hardfork vs. Bitcoin Hardfork
I lived through the Ethereum hardfork, actually it wasn't that big of a deal for me. I had my ether stored in a wallet because I knew that the most likely way I could lose my tokens (other than to give someone the keys to my wallet) was an exchange getting hacked. Fortunately, I stumbled into the correct answer for the wrong reason. I woke up after the hard fork and found that I had the same number of tokens of ETH that I had before and then also had the same number of ETC tokens as well. Basically at the point of the fork, both chains had the same information and so by doing nothing, I had tokens on both chains. What happened to those who had their ETH stored on an exchange? I think that the same thing happened to them too, but I can't say the same from experience.
A bitcoin hardfork however, if it happens, is going to be a much bigger deal. And, as I've been reading and researching I've learned that several exchanges are going to support both Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Unlimited (like Bittrex). There are others who have stated publicly that they will initially not be supporting Bitcoin Unlimited (like Coinbase). What does this mean if you have BTC stored on Coinbase? Does this mean that if the fork happens I won't have BTU tokens? Frankly, I really don't know. But I'm not taking any chances. I am in the process of moving all of my BTC off of the exchanges and into wallets.
Portability and access are the most important features of Bitcoin, at least they are to me. From my limited understanding and research (I have a day job), I'm assuming that deposits and withdrawals with exchanges will be temporarily frozen. Is this true? Again, I don't know. If that's the case or might even be a possibility, why should I take the chance?
What wallets to use? I'm sure there are many arguments here, but I like blockchain.info, Abra or Jaxx.
I would really appreciate any and all replies, especially from the experts who can explain to me why I'm all wet.
Many thanks for reading, replying and looking at the photos.