Make sure to see this topic by theymos also:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/aug-1-summary-2059111Note: I do not condone this behavior but it is happening and many consider it as "free money" or "airdrop" so i've made this to help prevent loss and possibly help those who want to sell as fast as possible to get the best price as it goes down.
On August 1st, a small group of people are planning to implement a non-compatible upgrade to the network, raising the blocksize limit to 8MB and removing SegWit. As this upgrade does not have a wide backing of the network, this "hard fork" would split the Bitcoin network in two. After this split whatever amount you have in bitcoin you will have the same amount in their chain known as Bitcoin Cash (BCC for short).
These are the ways you can claim it and be the safest possible:
According to this [1] and [2] BCC has a two way replay protection. This means if implemented correctly and honored by miners any transactions made in BCC chain should be invalid on bitcoin chain and vice versa. This makes things a lot easier.
Ways to claim your BCC:Method 1, using an exchange before August 1:Risky, for the Lazy, EasySome exchanges have promised to credit their users their BCC tokens in case the split on August first happened. this means if you have any balance in your account there you will automatically receive the same amount in BCC.
Risks:1. Your account can get hacked, the exchange may get hacked, the exchange can run away.
2. You don't control the private keys so you are trusting the third party to do it for you. and they may mess up and lose the tokens.
3. It may take a while before they credit your BCC tokens, or add a market for you to be able to sell them, or let you withdraw them to sell elsewhere and every second counts in case you want to act fast to get the highest price.
Benefits:1. It is easy and suitable for the lazy.
2. If the exchange has the market already or adds it fast on August 1, you can be the fastest to sell without missing a second. So you will get the best price before it crashes.
ImportantRead the risks and understand them before you decide on doing this.
your time is running out, some exchanges will close their deposits on 31st. Make sure it is not yet closed, you don't want your coins in limbo!
Method 2, using a BCC client After August 1:Harder, SaferThis method requires you to do everything, this means separating your coins yourself and then spending them. It is not hard, but it takes some time to do it. You also are taking the risk of using a new untested code given to you by people we don't know and have no track record to check.
Risks:The BCC clients are new and unknown, and we do not know who is releasing them (do not confuse the similar names such as "electrum-cash" with the original client "electrum" they are different[3]). They are rushed and nearly untested. They may have bugs or worse. Extra care should be taken (explained in summary below)
The replay protection may not work (Don't think this is true, just a cautious assumption IMO) (explained in summary below).
Benefits:You control everything!
How To:Summary: My approach is to separate the coins first and then spend them, this way you don't have to worry about replay protection or the wallets you download (because it is a new wallet created by a small group of people we don't know or trust and it is rushed and untested).
This is all
After August 1 and the split.
1. First split your coins by spending them on bitcoin's network. Simply get a new key and send all your funds to it with the wallet client that you already have and is running on the main network.
Extremely ImportantIf you are using a deterministic wallet (ex electrum with seed) you must create a
new wallet with new seed not just a new address from the same seed. (edit:
Read about Electrum WARNING)
2. Download a BCC client to import your old keys (which are now empty of bitcoin but still have BCC) and use them as you wish.
I am aware of 2 clients (download at your own risk):
- Bitcoin ABC: You can download it from "releases", compile the repo or download binaries from their website.
This is a full node.
Link:
https://github.com/Bitcoin-ABC/bitcoin-abc- Electrum Cash (
This is a changed/edited version of Electrum by other people than Electrum team [3])
This is a light wallet (SPV)
Link:
http://www.electrumcash.org/ (update 2019: link is changed to
https://electroncash.org/ and
https://github.com/Electron-Cash/Electron-Cash/)
ImportantIt is best if you do all this offline and on a separate computer and preferably on a live linux with no persistence and no access to any of your hard disks.
Suggestion: Ubuntu[4], Tails[5]
- Burn them on a DVD or make a Live USB [6][7]
- Disconnect internet (if you do it, you need to make a raw unsigned transaction online and transfer it to offline system to sign)
- Boot up into that Linux
- install BCC client and import your private keys (or seed if it is electrum-cash)
- spend.
If you found any mistakes or lack of explanation help me fix them.[1]
https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/56867/how-does-bitcoin-cash-implement-replay-protection[2]
https://github.com/Bitcoin-UAHF/spec/blob/master/uahf-technical-spec.md#req-6-2-mandatory-signature-shift-via-hash-type[3]
https://electrum.org/bcc.txt[4]
https://www.ubuntu.com/download[5]
https://tails.boum.org/install/download/index.en.html[6]
https://unetbootin.github.io/ [7]
https://www.pendrivelinux.com/