It is distributed, and that is the whole point. The difficulty lies in being unable to force anyone to do anything, so any change to the protocol runs the risk

It is distributed, and that is the whole point. The difficulty lies in being unable to force anyone to do anything, so any change to the protocol runs the risk of bitcoin splitting two incompatible halves. Changes like these have happened in the past without too much trouble, but these days there's more money and politics involved, so it's wait-and-see as to the outcome. Worst case bitcoin will permanently split into Bitcoin A and Bitcoin B. In practice I think it's fairly unlikely. Just suspend your trading near the date until this kerfuffle sorts itself out and you should be fine.