Bitcoin Forum

In case you haven't seen this, there is a fake "Electrum Cash" wallet going around, and I wouldn't trust that at all because it's not approved by the official Electrum team.

Electrum has delivered the following statement:

https://electrum.org/bcc.txt

So given that there is no official support, I only see the www.bitcoincash.org full node as the only option to access your BCC.

My question is, if you have your coins on your Electrum wallet, and if you don't have enough time to download the blockchain before August 1st to get a full Core client running then get the coins on the full BCC client (I see a lot of people saying that they can't do it in time), then how can these people access their BCC?

As far as I know you can't import the seed from Electrum into Bitcoin Core (even tho it supports HD format now so im not sure)

I also heard importing private keys is not safe and you should avoid that.

What's the solution then to access these coins?

After 1.8 create new wallet in Electrum with new seed. Move all your Bitcoins to safety there.
Get a Bitcoin Cash wallet and import a private key there since your Bitcoins are moved you can in the worst case lose you BCH.

At this point, everything seems dicey with several questions begging for answers which I am of the opinion is dependent on the eventuality that the fork happens on August 1. Aside that, when this happen I know there will be ways to go about it without too much hassle and over speculation that this will bring about. For me, I will rather wait for more information on the forum and other reputable site before knowing the next course of action.

Lightweight or SPV clients like Electrum and MultiBit (but stop using MultiBit ASAP (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2049217.0) if you currently use that) don't enforce network rules or validate transactions and merely follow the longest chain.  So if, in the infinitesimally unlikely event, BCC did somehow manage to build the longest chain, Electrum users would only be able to access BCC and not their normal bitcoins (unless they export/import their keys).  It often surprises me that not everyone realises SPV clients work like this.  

However, in the far, far more likely event that BCC doesn't build the longest chain, the only way Electrum users can access BCC is to export their keys and import them to another client supporting BCC

//DOUBLE EDIT:   The method arwani1985 posted below (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2054855.msg20534611#msg20534611) is almost certainly easier and doesn't involve messing about with keys, do that instead and just use the rest of this post as a guide for exporting keys for backup purposes.

(and as the OP has mentioned, select your software carefully as there are wallet clients which could potentially have been created to take advantage of unsuspecting users, we don't know how legitimate these new wallets are yet).  There are indeed some security risks involved when handling the private keys directly, which is why your wallet software doesn't normally store them in that raw format.  Make sure your PC, or whatever device you're using, is 100% clear of spyware or keylogging malware before you export your keys.  It's also generally suggested to do it whilst disconnected from the internet, just in case.  

From the menu, it's:  Wallet -> Private Keys -> Export -> *enter password*

Once you're done importing them to the new wallet client, don't leave the private keys lying around, unless they're stored securely somewhere offline as a passworded backup, which is actually recommended.  Your device could get infected in future, so you don't want attackers gaining access to your keys just sitting there in the open.  

You can do all of this at any point after the fork if you choose.  You only have to download the blockchain in your new client before August 1st if you're in a hurry to dump, although I'm guessing many are hoping to do just that.


//EDIT:  The Electron Cash (https://github.com/fyookball/electrum) wallet appears to be the work of the forum's very own Jonald Fyookball (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=261027)

I wonder why would anyone like to access  BCC  via Electurm? It is a small chain by viabtc and i think very few people will support it and it will be mixed with altcoins in the near future. Current BTC is the only real bitcoin which will always be the best one.

I am Electrum user and i worry too that i cant access my BCC after the split, i hope someone can help about this, what we have to do exactly

But it has always been said that you should never export your private keys, you should always just make the transaction. For example i the bitcoin Core software, all of this stuff is hidden and you need to do it with the command line because for security reasons they don't want to make it easy for the end user.

This is not my problem by the way, im just trying to know what would happen if I had it on the Electrum wallet. Luckily I did my homework and I have all of my stuff ready for the fork. I guess there's no way out and one should follow Doomad guideline's if you want to do this ASAP to be able to dump.

Looks, like you can gain bcc also in electrum in a quite easy way. As preposters already descriped, you should create a new electrum wallet as I understand the step by step tutorial, I found here:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/Electrum/comments/6pu0lo/claiming_bcc_from_existing_electrum_wallet/

if you want to dump fast then you have to take the risk of leaving your coins on exchanges that have promised to give you your tokens and also start the market for trading.

otherwise as ThomasV suggested you must empty your wallet first (emphasis on wallet not key) and then import that wallet in cash client.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2054046.0

Yes you should never export the keys or seed (except for backup). But this is an exception since you moved your Bitcoin away and are never using the old wallet again. Wait for enough confirmation before you export stuff and read here if something unexpected happened.

As per the official release notes on Electrum:  https://electrum.org/bcc.txt

I'm glad i found this, as it mentions that this should be done "after" the fork.

How to redeem my BCC?
---------------------

BCC wallets will require you to import your seed or your private keys,
which can be exported from Electrum. Doing so will expose all your
Bitcoin funds associated with that seed to the BCC wallet you decide
to use.

Therefore, *after* the BCC fork, but *before* you enter a seed or
private key in a BCC wallet, you should move all your funds to a new
Electrum wallet, with a new seed. You will still be able to use the
old seed or private key with BCC, because BCC has replay
protection. Wait until your funds are confirmed in your new Bitcoin
wallet, before you enter the old private key in a BCC wallet. This
will protect your BTC funds from rogue/untrusted software.


This link also explains the procedure in more detail: https://www.reddit.com/r/Electrum/comments/6pu0lo/claiming_bcc_from_existing_electrum_wallet/

I just know that we could access BCH through electrum.
So if we move all of our bitcoin in the new wallet it's all safe and then doing the stuff you've mentioned.
But it's a bit risky, isn't it?

That's true, but we don't know what the future holds.
There might be an upside down or...

You can import private keys in coinomi wallet (first you'll need to get over that its mobile wallet) and supports BCC too, they just rolled out update.

1. Install Electron Cash on a machine that does not have your
 Electrum wallets.

 2. Wait until the BCC hard fork has taken place, and a few BCC blocks
 have been mined.

 3. Move all your Electrum funds to a new Electrum wallet. This will
 move only your BTC, and not your BCC, because the BCC blockchain has
 replay protection. Wait until the transaction is confirmed.

 4. Enter the seed of your (now empty) old wallet or private keys in
 Electron Cash. Since the BTC have been moved to a new wallet,
 entering your old seed in Electron Cash will not put your BTC funds
 at risk.

Following these 4 easy steps you will be able to access your BCC
without compromising your BTC.

what is electron cash?

But I want to ask about the first step. Why we have to install Electron Cash in a device that doesn't have our Electrum wallet? To be honest, I use electrum and have some satoshi in it but I have only one device. Is there any better solution for me?

You can? I looked everywhere for the private keys on the Coinomi mobile wallet. I ended up transfering my coins to Exodus.

Set up a VM.

Electron Cash has an Android APK file listed in the OS versions and I guess it's a light weight wallet so if you have an old Android device lying around and don't want to mess with downloading whole blockchains it's an option to move your BCC coins quickly around.

I made a thread before about "Electrum Cash" (later renamed to "Electron Cash") here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2053806.msg20477271#msg20477271).  The altcoin versions are also not endorsed by them, by Electrum were okay with them because they're properly distinct from Bitcoin rather than being forks.

If you export them to reasonably secure wallets and your computer doesn't have malware, you should be fine.  You only need the coins in there for a couple of hours to send to an exchange anyway.

I think there should be a tutorial on this issue of moving to BCC in the event that the fork happens which is few minutes from now because all this process seems confusing to someone like me who is not any where been a techie to understand how it works even the statement release by Electrum does not help matter. Is there no way where you generate address on a wallet then send your BTC to which will then divide it into BCC and BTC and from there you choose which one you want to spend. Or in the case of electrum, it just show the break down of both BCC and BTC just like having two wallets in one identifier.

Same PC is perfectly ok the keys are in different folders. Just use different keys to secure wallet.
This is true for Mac version at least.

Best solution is written in that file: After fork, create a new wallet and move your bitcoins to new wallet. (with new private keys). And use your old private key in bcc wallet. Even if its not trusted, you won't lose your bitcoins by that way. (I guess I understood it right.)

As been said by electrum team you should not download the new wallet into a same machine if you dont really want to mess up. They suggested that you would download on other machine and you do import your private keys on the new wallet and you would really able to get BCC once it successfully imported. I didnt still try to download now im waiting for others to do so.

Hello, I have my btc on my portfolio Electrum, I just do the manipulation as recommended by Electrum, I installed Electron-cash on another computer and I imported my seed, ultimately my balance in BCC on Electron Cash Is 00 !!! I have not received a balance equal to my btc

There is no BCH yet. They need to mine a block first.

Tell us if something wrong happen.

Is step 2 over yet?

Step 2:

"
 2. Wait until the BCC hard fork has taken place, and a few BCC blocks
 have been mined."

Just wait for theymos to post a guide after the all-clear. Estimated to happen over the next 24 hours, but I would just relax and check after a day or two to avoid any unexpected messing up. Watch the announcements section for it:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2017191.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2017191.0)

Why should I create new wallet? Can't I just transfer my BTC to another key in the same wallet in Electrum (with the same seed)?
And get BCC from the old key but in the same Electrum wallet?
How is it unsafe?

Interestingly, the coinomi wallet disappeared from the bitcoincash website as a supported wallet.

How to export private keys from electrum?

Select Address then right click - you will get option there to export private key. you have to done 1 by 1.

Very important:

https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/6qyn18/electroncash_notice_how_to_select_bitcoincash/?st=j5v2ptdy&sh=74815e85 (https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/6qyn18/electroncash_notice_how_to_select_bitcoincash/?st=j5v2ptdy&sh=74815e85)

What's up?

There's a minor problem that occurs when ElectrumCash is started for the first time: it will follow the wrong chain of the fork initially.

The client is still completely usable, but it requires user action to select the BitcoinCash chain after first startup. Safety of your coins is in no way affected by this problem.

This will be corrected in future versions, but for now we offer this workaround (which is very easy to do)

What's the problem?

When ElectronCash doesn't find a local blockchain_headers file (which is the case on first start), it tries downloading it via http. We forgot to change that url so it still points to a file that contains the legacy chain headers. When that file is downloaded, ElectronCash will disconnect from the BitcoinCash chain servers because they don't match what the downloaded file says. It then switches to using legacy electrum servers and verifies the headers and now follows the legacy chain.

How to fix it?

Right after startup (or any time, really), go to the Network Window (it's reachable from the Tools menu or the Network indicator lamp on the lower right). On the Overview Tab of that window is a server list. If a chain split is detected (which should be the case), the servers are grouped by a branch id. Select the correct branch (the one that has servers electrum-abc.criptolayer.net and electroncash.cascharia.com) by right-clicking on the correct branch id (that long number with the @ sign in it) and select "Follow This Branch" in the popup menu that opens.

ElectonCash will then follow the BitcoinCash branch of the fork and you're good to go.

What happens if I used it before to make transactions or to receive BCC?

Nothing bad: you probably saw yourself that the transaction you made was rejected by the network (BTC) because it is invalid due to the replay protection.

If you gave out an address to receive BCC with, you will see the incoming transaction once you have switched to the correct branch and the client has finished synchronizing.

Hope this helps... have fun buying / selling and transacting ;-)

If all your Bitcoin are in just this one private key you can move them that way.