How to split BTC in Electrum 2.9.3 - After transfer from Multibit

[Mareli08]

Hi,

I really hope someone can help me with this.

I used to have a wallet with Multibit before they closed. They gave me a way to transfer my bitcoin to an Electrum wallet which I did.

Now I am trying to split my BTC from BCC, and by what I have read, I need my seed, which I cannot see in my wallet. The Seed option is greyed out.

I also had a look at the Electrum documents on how to split my bitcoin, however I am unable to follow the instructions, as it does not show me where my split lays (see Procedure 2.a http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/hardfork.html)

I want to transfer some of my bitcoin out, however I have read that I need to do the split first, as it will otherwise spend money from both the btc and bcc simultaneously.

Can someone please advise me as to how I can split and use my btc, and if the fact that I came over from Multibit would have something to do with it?

Thanks.

[DooMAD]

Hi,

I really hope someone can help me with this.

I used to have a wallet with Multibit before they closed. They gave me a way to transfer my bitcoin to an Electrum wallet which I did.

Now I am trying to split my BTC from BCC, and by what I have read, I need my seed, which I cannot see in my wallet. The Seed option is greyed out.

Yes, you won't have a seed for any keys you imported from MultiBit Classic (not sure about HD).  When you create any new wallets just using Electrum it will generate a seed for you, but if you import a private key, you just have the private key and nothing else.  If you'd feel more comfortable using a seed, one option would be to generate a brand new wallet with Electrum, copy your seed down and store it securely, then send your funds from the wallet you imported from MultiBit to an address in your new wallet.  You'd still have to follow all the steps to split your coins after doing this, though, so keep in mind that it's one more tx fee to pay if you decide to do that.

however I am unable to follow the instructions, as it does not show me where my split lays (see Procedure 2.a http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/hardfork.html)

I'm not sure what you mean by "my split".  That 'Network' window shows where forks have taken place.  There's nothing relating to you or your funds in there.  Step 2.a is showing you which chain you're currently on and giving you the option to select a different chain, which is part of the procedure if you want to split your coins.  It basically explains that if you put the block heights of each fork into a block explorer, you can tell which chain is which.

[Mareli08]

Thanks!! Is there then another way to split my btc from my bcc without using a seed? Basically I am just looking to split my btc from my bcc so I can use some of my btc, but don't want to mess anything up and end up loosing it.

[HCP]

Did you come from MultiBit CLASSIC or MultiBit HD? It's important to know what information you used to get your BTC into Electrum...

Did you use private keys... or a MultiBit seed?

[Mareli08]

I used a Private Key. I think it was Multibit Classic

[HCP]

In which case, you simply need to put the same private key into a BCH wallet of your choice... like Electron Cash (https://www.electroncash.org/#download)... and you'll have instant access to your BCH. You can then do whatever you want with your BCH without affecting your BTC due to the 2-way replay protection.

It is worth noting, that while there have not been any reports of people losing BTC due to ElectronCash "stealing" private keys and/or seeds... by simply exporting the private key and importing them into ANY other wallet, you are potentially exposing them to any keyloggers, screengrabbers or other malware on your computer designed to steal cryptocurrency related data.

Whether you want to "move" your BTC to different addresses (and therefore different private keys) before you import to a BCH wallet is up to you. The network is very busy at the moment and fees are really high again

[Mareli08]

Thank you so much for all your help!!! I really appreciate the time you have taken to answer my questions and guide me through. It all makes sense now and I know what to do. Thanks again!! 

[Abdussamad]

I want to transfer some of my bitcoin out, however I have read that I need to do the split first, as it will otherwise spend money from both the btc and bcc simultaneously.

You need to move your btc first and then do the thing with electron cash. What you said above is wrong. BCC has replay protection so your coins will not move on both chains.

And FYI you shouldn't install electron cash on the same computer as electrum. Install it on a separate machine or install it in a virtual machine. You can download free virtual machine software called virtual box (google it) and use that. It's worth it taking your time to do this. Neither BTC nor BCC are going anywhere.

You can see the dangers of using electron cash on the same machine here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2403606.0