Safe claiming of forked altcoins

[Sumarokov]

Hello. I had Bitcoin for a long time on a Blockchain wallet. I have since moved them to Electrum, though I still have access to my Blockchain wallet.

Now that Bitcoin Gold has recovered a bit in price, I was thinking I really need to claim all my coins. I have been a Bitcoin holder since 2013 and have only ever claimed Bitcoin Cash (because it was given to me in my wallet automatically and, if I recall, for the coins I held at that time also on Kraken).

Is there a comprehensive step-by-step guide anywhere to how to go about claiming coins resulting from Bitcoin forks?

I know there are a lot of suggestions online, but I find they sometimes leave things out and expose you to potential risks. I really only trust the posters on here. 

[RapTarX]

Don't trust anyone, verify. You have every information to check and verify. To claim the fork, you can follow this tutorial compiled by LoyceV- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2836875.0
You must not trust anyone in PM who may offer you to help in this regard.

[agg2702]

I know there are a lot of suggestions online, but I find they sometimes leave things out and expose you to potential risks. I really only trust the posters on here. 

well that's the problem, such things will be very vulnerable to be transferred. so I suggest you try to find the information suggested above. especially with the number of bitcoins that are not small, you need to be careful in dealing with them.

[tabas]

Some wallets like Exodus and Coinomi has the steps and see if they're the ones you look for.
https://coinomi.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/29000016813-claiming-your-forked-coins
https://support.exodus.com/article/203-how-can-i-claim-my-forked-coins

[Charles-Tim]

<...>

It is recommended that you first sweep your wallet or move your funds in other wallet address before claiming any other forked coins, and best wallet for that would be Electrum.

You can follow and use LoyceV's Bitcoin Fork claiming guide (and service) for more information and help.

Or, this second option which is simple but the first option above is recommended.

Coinomi wallet is close source wallet, and I can not encourage anyone to use it. But, it will be the best for ease as it support all the forked coins mentioned. All you need is to sweep the private key into Coinomi wallet. You will see all the forked coins along. Then you can transfer the bitcoin and the forked coins to an offline wallet which is the best for security and safety, or any reputed wallet you want.

[Sumarokov]

I am finding the tutorial compiled by LoyceV hard to understand.

For example:

4. Export the private keys to the addresses that hold Forkcoins.

Which addresses exactly? What does it actually mean by "export the private keys"?

Also, when I go to this recommended page:

https://coinomi.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/29000016813-claiming-your-forked-coins

It says: "First of all make sure that you have the most recent version of Coinomi".

But surely there is more to that? I found such a page on downloading an Electrum wallet... but only later did I find that there is actually much more to it than that and I had to make sure that I had an authenticated version by carrying out much greater checks.

So is it enough that I just download what I find on the Coinomi site? Or do I need to do my own additional checking?

I wish I could find a comprehensive site for claiming forkcoins that shows step by step. Instructions like "Export the private keys to the addresses that hold Forkcoins" just confuse me, as I am not tech savvy and the jargon confuses me as a person doing things for the first time...

[LoyceV]

Which addresses exactly?

Every one of your Bitcoin address that held funds when the Fork happened.

What does it actually mean by "export the private keys"?

It means you need to get the private keys for your address(es). How you get them depends on your wallet, but you'll need the private keys to access Forkcoins.

I have been a Bitcoin holder since 2013 and have only ever claimed Bitcoin Cash (because it was given to me in my wallet automatically and, if I recall, for the coins I held at that time also on Kraken).

Did you have all your Bitcoins at Kraken when the Bitcoin Cash fork happened? If you had some in your own wallet at the time, you may have more BCH (and other Forks) to claim. If you do, don't do it before you fully understand how to enforce replay protection. I've seen several people lose Forkcoins that way.

[Sumarokov]

Which addresses exactly?

Every one of your Bitcoin address that held funds when the Fork happened.

What does it actually mean by "export the private keys"?

It means you need to get the private keys for your address(es). How you get them depends on your wallet, but you'll need the private keys to access Forkcoins.

I kept my Bitcoins on both Blockchain and in Kraken at the time of forks.

Is the private key the same as seed? I have looked online at ways to get private keys from a Blockchain wallet, but they all mention the 12-word seed when you specially ask for "private key". Or is private key here the 64-random code? If so, how do you get it?

Also, what if the coins were on an exchange? How do you "export the private keys" exactly?

Is there a step-by-step guide anywhere, because sometimes phrases are used that are not clear (like "export").

When I downloaded Electrum, I only found out later that you need to check the Encrypton Keys using GPA. But this was not known at the time. So is there a foolproof guide which really covers everything, so you are not told later "oh, you should not have done that" when you had no way of knowing at the time?

[Coin_trader]

Which addresses exactly?

Every one of your Bitcoin address that held funds when the Fork happened.

What does it actually mean by "export the private keys"?

It means you need to get the private keys for your address(es). How you get them depends on your wallet, but you'll need the private keys to access Forkcoins.

I kept my Bitcoins on both Blockchain and in Kraken at the time of forks.

Is the private key the same as seed? I have looked online at ways to get private keys from a Blockchain wallet, but they all mention the 12-word seed when you specially ask for "private key". Or is private key here the 64-random code? If so, how do you get it?

Also, what if the coins were on an exchange? How do you "export the private keys" exactly?

Is there a step-by-step guide anywhere, because sometimes phrases are used that are not clear (like "export").

When I downloaded Electrum, I only found out later that you need to check the Encrypton Keys using GPA. But this was not known at the time. So is there a foolproof guide which really covers everything, so you are not told later "oh, you should not have done that" when you had no way of knowing at the time?

Fork coins should be reflected on your Kraken account already if they support the fork but if not, You don’t have any altcoins there since they are centralized exchange which means they are not liable for your fork coin. Regarding the blockcgain wallet, use your private key/ recovery seed there on LoyceV guide.

[LoyceV]

I kept my Bitcoins on both Blockchain and in Kraken at the time of forks.

If they didn't give them to you yet, you can forget about all Forks for coins held at an exchange.
Forks at your own Blockchain wallet can be recovered.

Is the private key the same as seed?

Not really: a private key gives access to 1 address, the seed gives access to all private keys for all your addresses.

I have looked online at ways to get private keys from a Blockchain wallet, but they all mention the 12-word seed when you specially ask for "private key".

Depending on the wallet you're going to use, you may use the 12 word seed or individual private keys. Be careful though, compromised Fork wallets have been stealing funds, so I prefer not to trust online Fork wallets with either seed or private keys.

Or is private key here the 64-random code?

I don't now which code this is.

Also, what if the coins were on an exchange? How do you "export the private keys" exactly?

You can't. "Not your keys, not your coins". The exchange may or may not have claimed all valuable Forks for themselves, and some of them gave some Forks to their users.

Is there a step-by-step guide anywhere, because sometimes phrases are used that are not clear (like "export").

When I downloaded Electrum, I only found out later that you need to check the Encrypton Keys using GPA. But this was not known at the time. So is there a foolproof guide which really covers everything, so you are not told later "oh, you should not have done that" when you had no way of knowing at the time?

There are many guides, but I wouldn't call any of htem completely foolproof. I offer a service for it though