At 8:20 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Tuesday, August 1 , MOST people holding Bitcoin will receive an additional free coin, Bitcoin Cash. Want to know if YOU will? Read on!
At least one of the big Bitcoin miners will create a new Bitcoin, called Bitcoin Cash, at 8:20 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Tuesday, August 1 and one Chinese exchange, VitaBTC, is already trading a token that can be redeemed for 1 Bitcoin Cash. A few days ago, one Bitcoin Cash IOU was worth over $500. Right now, that value is $400.
For most Bitcoin holders, the split will result in their receiving 1 Bitcoin Cash coin for every Bitcoin they currently own. However, receiving 1 Bitcoin Cash for every BTC doesn’t mean a doubling of value. When Ether split into ETH and Ether Classic (ETC), the value of both coins dropped a good percentage and then after about 6 months ETH rose to much more than before the split and ETC rose a good percentage also. So, it was very profitable. However, no one actually knows what will happen with this split. Both could go up. Both could go down. The values of each added together could be more or less than 1 current BTC.
I said “most” Bitcoin holders, because the exchanges Kraken, Bitfinex and Bittrex have said they will take steps to ensure this happens for their customers. (Happily, these are the three I use.) Gemini said they will try to support it. Poloniex has said they will look at the situation after it occurs and decide then. Take that as a “no.” Coinbase, Bitstamp , GDAX, Bitmex and Itbit have said they will not support a free Bitcoin Cash coin for their customers.
If your Bitcoins are in a wallet, not in an exchange, here is what I’ve found. The Exodus wallet will not support Bitcoin Cash. The hardware wallets, Ledger and Trezor, will support it. (I use the Ledger Nano S.) It’s unclear whether Blockchain.info wallets will support Bitcoin Cash. BitcoinABC wallets will support it and there is an Electrum wallet variation that will support it as will airBitz.
So, if your Bitcoins are not on Kraken, Bitfinex or Bittrex, you should move them to one of those exchanges or to a wallet that will support Bitcoin Cash before July 30 as most exchanges are going to temporarily halt buying and selling of Bitcoin from about 31 July until the network is stable, which will be hours or days after the fork on August 1.
What I am quite certain of is that by the end of the year, Bitcoin (BTC) will be over $3000, perhaps as much as $4000.
Peter helped me untangle my various cryptocurrency accounts, get everything centralized, as well as sort out a number of confusions that I had, so that I now have a much clearer understanding of how to play this game. Thanks, Peter!
You’re more than welcome, Tony. I like to help people with new things and Bitcoin is one of the best.