Bitcoin Diamond Explained

Everything You Need to Know About Bitcoin Diamond

Bitcoin did another hard fork, the coin created this time is Bitcoin Diamond. The fork occurred at block height 495866. [1][2]

NOTE: Some people tend to think Bitcoin Diamond is a scam. Given that and other unknowns, one should be careful buying Bitcoin Diamond futures until there is some clear confirmation that the fork is real. See Medium’s Bitcoin Diamond is a scam of epic proportions.

When did the snapshot for Bitcoin Diamond occur? The snapshot was taken at block height 495866. Block 495866 occurred on November 24th at about 1:20 am Pacific Standard time. Thus, if you had Bitcoin at that time, you will have Bitcoin Diamond when it is released (or when the third party exchange or wallet you use starts backing it). See information on block 495866 [I am basing the time above on blocktrail.com’s block records].

IMPORTANT: Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) has not officially been released yet, and there is a lot of unknowns. You can trade BCD futures on Binance, otherwise there is no way to claim/mine the actual coin yet (Binance released futures, not actual Bitcoin Diamonds; the snapshot was taken, but one cannot claim their BCD yet). Wait for an official word and others to test drive BCD before you go downloading wallets and following online instructions. There is still a chance the fork isn’t real. See more warnings and tips below.[3]

According to the official site btcd.io:[4]

Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) is a fork of Bitcoin that occurs at the predetermined height of block 495866 and therewith a new chain will be generated as the BCD. Bitcoin Diamond miners will begin creating blocks with a new proof-of-work algorithm, and will consecutively develop and enhance the protection for account transfer and privacy based on original features of BTC. This will cause a bifurcation of the Bitcoin blockchain. The original Bitcoin blockchain will continue unaltered, but a new branch of the blockchain will split off from the original chain. It shares the same transaction history with Bitcoin until it starts branching and coming into a unique block from which it diverges. As a result of this process, a new cryptocurrency was created which we call “Bitcoin Diamond”.

There really isn’t much to say about Bitcoin Diamond except a few basics:

  • Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) plans to switch from Proof-of-work to Proof-of-stake. If this happens, it  means holders of coins will have a chance to gain interest on their coins (gaining new BCD simply for holding BCD in a BCD wallet).
  • Anyone who had Bitcoin when the fork occurred has 10 Bitcoin Diamonds for every 1 Bitcoin they owned.
  • The coin hasn’t been airdropped yet. Generally a snapshot is taken at a specific block height and then the coin is airdropped (released) at a later date when the development team is ready.
  • This was not a widely publicized fork, so proceed with caution. One shouldn’t assume the fork is safe, one is generally advised to wait until the dust settles.
  • If you use a third party wallet, you could have to wait to claim your diamond (or you could end up not getting it at all in some odd cases). For example, Coinbase (who provides a third party wallet service) hasn’t said how they plan to move forward on Diamond, hasn’t been 100% clear on Bitcoin Gold, but however has announced that they will release Bitcoin Cash on January 1st. Thus, if you use a third party service like Coinbase you could have to wait (but will likely get your coins if the coin is stable), while if you have direct access to your private keys you want to keep an eye on the official Bitcoin Diamond site for updates.

Warnings and important information on Bitcoin Diamond:

  • Binance (an exchange) gave everyone who was in for the Diamond fork 10 Bitcoin Diamond Futures for every Bitcoin they had. Despite this being true, and a great reason to set up a Binance account before the next fork, there are not Bitcoin Diamond coins on the market yet. You cannot claim your Bitcoin Diamonds yet. Be very careful here. To my knowledge Bitcoin Diamond does not have a Github, public code otherwise released, or much else publicly known about it. There is still a chance that Bitcoin Diamond is a joke or even malicious (if you don’t get the joke, think about the different Pokemon games Core, Gold, Silver, Platinum, Classic, XT, Ultimate, etc.. are these bi-fork-ations of Pokemon/Bitcoin “better,” or are they just slightly different?).
  • Malicious could mean that the fork doesn’t have replay protection despite claiming it does. Malicious could be that a fake wallet and fake instructions will be released (by which using it will eat your Bitcoins). Malicious could be it is a joke, but scammers create fake wallets or instructions. We don’t know, no one knows, so be careful.
  • There was not a lot of fanfare surrounding the fork, many didn’t even realize it would occur until the last minute. If Bitcoin Cash was an uncertain thing, and Bitcoin Gold was even more uncertain, then Bitcoin Diamond is even more uncertain than that. We still don’t know for sure if the fork is real. Be very careful looking for directions on the internet, the coin is to my knowledge not released yet (the snapshot occurred and Binance released futures, but otherwise one can’t access the coin yet), and even after the coin comes out your best bet is to wait for others to test drive Bitcoin Diamond. We will post when we find a set of directions that have been confirmed to work. In general trusting an official site is a good move, but since no one really knows who forked Bitcoin this time, or if the fork is legit, even the official site is something to proceed with caution over.
Article Citations
  1. Bitcoin Gold or Comedy Gold? Bitcoin Diamond Launches With 4.2 Bln Coins
  2. Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) expected on Nov. 24, 2017! BTC vs BCH vs BTG vs BCD
  3. Binance Distributes Bitcoin Diamond BCD and Adds BCD Markets
  4. the official Bitcoin Diamond site

Author: Thomas DeMichele

Thomas DeMichele has been working in the cryptocurrency information space since 2015 when CryptocurrencyFacts.com was created. He has contributed to MakerDAO, Alpha Bot (the number one crypto bot on Discord),...

Leave a comment

We'll never share your email with anyone else.

Bitcoin diamond is best I believe the price will moon in less 3 years

Reply

I checked my balance using Bither wallet and found that I only got 9 BCD for the 1 BTC I had. Not sure of why I’m missing 1 BCD? Anyone else had a problem not getting the full ration of 10 BCD for 1 BTC?

Reply

I think the above warning advise is very sound.Look be for you leap.

Reply

What worries me, or even makes me angry is that they are so extremely secret and silence. There are no community communications, info or plan what so ever. Bitcoin gold was very open from the beginning and involved users along the whole launch process. I can’t fathom right now how this can turn into anything good. You NEED community support in this crypto business.

Reply

@Thomas D. What do you mean the coin didn’t “drop” yet? Who told you this? The coin IS in separable from the blockchain. It is already in the blockchain there is no magic “dropping” of coins.

The coins already exist exactly as they were at the time of snapshot. Now perhaps the BCD guys are still working on modifying the chain, protocol and wallets, to support the new currency metrics. However there seriously is not such thing as a coin “drop.”

I will stand corrected if you can point me to a single authoritative source for a coin dropping.

Reply

You know what he ment stop splitting hairs,or is it coins lol

Reply

I put a bitcoin over at Binance to test and sure enough I got 10 Bitcoin Diamonds. Unreal that I got $88 for each (Total $880)

Basically got a free $880 for nothing. So real enough for me 🙂

Reply

Where can i get any details on mining this new ”x13 gpu optimised” algorithm. This seams like a fraud. They release the coin and then they put some unknown algorithm on it so they can do private mining for the onoy 10 000 block that are mineable … WOW this is way worse than a pre-mine

Reply