A List of Upcoming Bitcoin Forks and Past Forks

Your Guide to Upcoming Bitcoin Forks For 2019 and Beyond (As Well as a List of Past Bitcoin Forks)

We present a guide to Bitcoin forks including past forks and upcoming forks for 2022 and beyond. This page is from 2017, but is continuously updated.

An Introduction to Past and Upcoming Bitcoin Forks

First, in overly simple terms, a cryptocurrency “hard fork” is when a copy of a coin is made and a new coin is created. This results in those who held the coin on the old blockchain holding the new coin on the new blockchain (see important details below).

Meanwhile, a “soft fork” is when updates to the current chain are made but no new coin is created. These occur after BIP (Bitcoin Improvement Proposals), which are changes to the code, are accepted by enough miners. They are often contentious and require debate. Examples of this include Segwit for block limitations, Taproot privacy, and BIP-119 which was suggested in 2022 to help allow for Ethereum-like smart contracts on Bitcoin.

This page is mostly about hard forks, although we do provide a list of implemented, proposed, and upcoming soft forks below.

In terms of hard forks, Bitcoin forked more than once in its history producing forks with names like BitcoinXT and Bitcoin Classic. However, there weren’t many notable forks for most of Bitcoin’s existence in the early days. Then in 2017 two notable forks appeared Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold.

From that point forward, perhaps due to the success of Bitcoin Cash specifically, a number of Bitcoin forks began to be announced toward the end of 2017.

Forks announced in late 2017 included Super Bitcoin, Bitcoin Platinum, Bitcoin Cash Plus, Bitcoin Silver, Bitcoin Uranium, and Bitcoin God.

Following those forks, many more forks were announced such as Bitcoin Interest and Bitcoin Ore.

Over 2018 and 2019 many more forks were created, some forks themselves forked (like BCH forking to BSV), and even today forks continue to be announced. This trend then died down considerably, although it isn’t impossible that we see more soft and hard forks in the future.

Probably the most important thing to note before moving on is that only a small majority of these forks end up having active communities, stable wallets, and value. In many cases, forked coins end up being quick cash grabs, failed projects, jokes, or even scams. So in general, you should research a given fork before you claim it or chase after it.

Below is a full list of all Bitcoin forks past, present, and future. First a few more notes:

  • Any given Bitcoin fork could end up being real or not. So far many folks have turned out to be legitimate, while a few are suspected to be fake. See notes below for specifics on each fork.
  • From late 2017 to 2018 as many as 20 Bitcoin forks occurred, the amount of Bitcoin forks has only grown since then.
  • Anyone holding Bitcoin in a wallet where they are in control of their private keys, or anyone holding Bitcoin on a platform the supports a given fork, will be privy to a given fork. Forked coins can be claimed after the Main Network goes live (something that generally happens a few days to weeks after a snapshot of the blockchain is taken at the “snapshot block”). How you claim your forked coins depends on where you hold your coins.
  • It is rare for exchanges to support forks, so if you do want to claim forks, make sure to use a wallet where you control your private keys. That said, if you are going to claim forks, please read the advice below on best practices for claiming a fork!
  • Each fork occurs at a block number (AKA block height). To qualify for the fork, you must be in Bitcoin before the block height for that fork occurs.

Below we will list the forks and their block number alongside a short description, an approximate date when we have one, and the “official” URL (the URL of the coin or the closest thing we could find when that wasn’t an option).

See the additional notes at the bottom of the page for more information on how to claim forked coins and how to be in Bitcoin for the fork.

A List of Bitcoin Soft Forks

Here is a quick list of Bitcoin soft forks:

  • Segwit. Implemented to deal with the block limitations issue. The debate over this also led to the Bitcoin Cash hard fork.
  • Taproot. Added Schnorr signatures, and improved the ability to handle smart contracts. It also allowed for the Lightning Network.
  • BIP-119 (Suggested). A 2022 proposal that would allow for “covenants,” which would greater enhance Bitcoins’ ability to handle smart contracts if accepted.

A List of Recent and Upcoming Bitcoin Forks 2017 – 2019 And Beyond

The following Bitcoin forks either occurred from 2017 – 2019 or are planned for 2019 and beyond.

Below that list is a list of past forks including Bitcoin Diamond, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin XT, and etc.[1][2][3]

WARNING: Be careful with clicking any of the URLS below. These are the most official URLs I could find for each fork, but not every planned fork is necessarily an upstanding project (and thus I can’t vouch for every URL). Try typing them into Google search first and make sure to heed any warnings like “site may be insecure.”

  1. BitcoinX (BCX): A smart contract (like Ethereum) based Bitcoin. Block 498888. //bcx.org/NOTE: Snapshot block already occurred; the coin has officially been released and trades on a number of exchanges.
  2. ABitcoin (ABTC): A “light speed” Bitcoin with smart contracts. Block 498888. The ABTC fork was also a fork for Achain holders//www.abitcoin.one/. NOTE: Snapshot block occurred, but the coin doesn’t seem to be trading. The ABTC fork was also a fork for Achain holders.
  3. Bitcoin Hot (BTH): Lightning network, smart contract, zero-knowledge proof, anti quantum hash. Block 498848. NOTE: Snapshot block occurred, but the coin doesn’t seem to be trading.
  4. Super Bitcoin (SBTC): Like BitcoinX, a smart contract based Bitcoin. Block 498888. //www.supersmartbitcoin.com/index.html. NOTE: Snapshot block already occurred; the coin has officially been released and trades on a number of exchanges.
  5. Bitcoin Platinum (BTP): According to the site, “Satoshi’s original vision of Decentralized Electronic Cash.” Around December 12th. Blocks 497757 / 498533.  //bitcoinplatinum.github.io/ko.html TIP: Bitcoin Platinum is rumored to be fake see: Bitcoin Platinum Created By South Korean Teenager As a Scam, Local Market EruptsNOTE: Snapshot block already occurred; no futures trading that I know of (in this case potentially because it wasn’t a real fork).
  6. Bitcoin Oil (OBTC). No-premine, proof of stake, CPU mining, 2mb blocks. Block 498,888. //www.oilbtc.io/index_en.html NOTE: Snapshot block already occurred; no futures trading that I know of.
  7. Bitcoin World (BTW). 8mb blocks, proof of work, replay protection. Block 499777. //btw.one/NOTE: Snapshot block already occurred; no futures trading that I know of.
  8. Bitcoin Stake (BTCS): Proof of stake (as the name implies). Block 499999. //btcscoin.com/NOTE: Snapshot block already occurred; no futures trading that I know of.
  9. Bitcoin Faith (BTF): Smart Contracts, 8mb blocks, and Lightening Network. Block 500000. //www.bitcoinfaith.org/NOTE: Snapshot block already occurred; no futures trading that I know of.
  10. Lightning Bitcoin (LBTC): A fork that is meant to provide “lightning fast payments.” Uses smart contracts and can host decentralized apps like Ethereum (and Super Bitcoin). Around December 23rd. Block 499,999. //lightningbitcoin.io/NOTE: Snapshot block already occurred; I know of no futures trading. (Not to be confused with LiteBitcoin).
  11. Bitcoin Cash Plus (BCP): According to the site, “fulfilling the original promise of Bitcoin.” Around January 2nd, 2018. Block 501407. //www.bitcoincashplus.org/. NOTE: Snapshot block already occurred; I know of no futures trading.
  12. Bitcoin Silver (BTCS): According to a BitcoinTalk forum, the coin aims to “Make Bitcoin Decentralized Again.” Apparently, it occurs “in December.” The site had issues at one point. When the site started working “again” it appeared to be a token sale (an Ethereum-based ICO). //bitcoinsilver.io/NOTE: This ended up being an ICO; I don’t know if it is real, but it is not a Bitcoin fork.
  13. Bitcoin Uranium (BUM): According to a BitcoinTalk forum, the coin aims to “Make Bitcoin Great Again.” Apparently, it occurs “in December.” //bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2316506NOTE: No update on this fork; it is very doubtful that it “occurred in December.” There isn’t even an official site.
  14. Bitcoin Top (BTT): Bitcoin Top is like Bitcoin Cash with Segwit and privacy protection according to the site. There isn’t much to go on here outside a website. Block 501118. //www.bitcointop.org/NOTE: Snapshot block already occurred; no futures trading that I know of.
  15. Bitcoin Pizza (BPA): A Bitcoin that uses Directed Acyclic Graph technology (DAG), the technology IOTA uses. Block 501,888. //p.top/.
  16. Bitcoin File (BIFI): Smart contracts, content network, and bigger blocks. Block 501225. //www.bitcoinfile.org/NOTE: Snapshot block already occurred; no futures trading that I know of.
  17. Bitcoin God (GOD): No pre-mining, no central team (in theory), smart contracts, large blocks, POS mining, lightening network enabled, zero-knowledge proof, etc. It’s apparently a [slightly late] Christmas Present from Chinese Angel Investor Chandler Guo. Block 501225. Originally said to occur Dec. 25, but block 501225 won’t happen until sometime late Dec. 26 or early Dec. 27 PST. //www.bitcoingod.org/NOTE: Snapshot block already occurred; I know of no futures trading.
  18. BitEthereum (BITE): A fork for both Ethereum and Bitcoin. According to the site: ETH block: 4766319. Each ETH can claim 0.34210519 BITE tokens. BTC block: 500283. Each BTC can claim 3.93946357 BITE tokens. //www.bitethereum.io.
  19. Bitcoin Segwit2x “2.0”: The Bitcoin hard fork Segwit2x is rumored to be back again after being canceled at the last minute back in October (at the time it was meant to occur at block 494784, there was a rumor that it did occur, but no nodes are running it). From what we can tell, and as a reader pointed out, this iteration of Segwit2x seems to have no direct relation to the last Segwit2x fork beyond its name. Further, there is some who question the legitimacy of this fork. The current iteration is planned for block 501451. For the original fork, see: //segwit2x.github.io/. For the latest iteration, see //cointelegraph.com/news/hard-fork-take-two-segwit2x-will-return-dec-28-says-founder. Also see //medium.com/@nicolas.etienne368/fake-segwit2x-fork-by-jaap-turlouw-7d06e5703cbaNOTE: Snapshot block already occurred; Segwit2x futures have been trading since the last Segwit2x fork (be careful trading these futures though, if the forks are unrelated it isn’t clear how exchanges that are allowing Segwit2x futures trading will rectify this).
  20. Bitcoin Smart (BCS): Equihash mining, 8mb blocks, Segwit, replay, smart contracts, no pre-mine. The smart nod is a nod to smart contracts. It is similar to Bitcoin God where it throws the kitchen sink into the mix. Block 505050. //bcs.info/NOTE: Snapshot block already occurred; no futures trading that I know of.
  21. Bitcoin Ore (BCO): Proof of capacity AKA proof of space, 8mb blocks, replay protection. Block 501,949. //www.bitcoinore.org/NOTE: Snapshot block already occurred; no futures trading that I know of.
  22. Bitvote (BTV): I’m not sure when the original fork date was, but Bitvote re-forked on at block 505050 due to problems with replay protection.  //bitvote.one/.
  23. Bitcoin Interest (BCI): A proof of stake Bitcoin fork (it pays you interest for holding BCI essentially). January 22nd, 2018 11:59 PM GMT, or at Block 505083. //bitcoininterest.io/NOTE: Snapshot block already occurred; no futures trading that I know of.
  24. Bitcoin Rhodium (BTR): Don’t have any information on block height, the snapshot was January 10 at 23:59:59 UTC and the chain is live according to the official site. //www.bitcoinrh.org.
  25. Bitcoin Atom (BCA): Bitcoin Atom is a SegWit enabled Bitcoin fork with atomic swaps, hybrid consensus, and lightning network. Block 505888 (occurred Jan 24, 2018). //bitcoinatom.io/. NOTE: BCA mainnet is now active, and the source code has been released – full details here: //medium.com/@bitcoinatom/bitcoin-atom-bca-releases-source-code-mainnet-b72efa4270c8. BCA is listed on CoinMarketCap.com and trades on YoBit.
  26. Bitcoin Private (BTCP): Zclassic plans to fork Bitcoin to create Bitcoin Private (a privacy-focused Bitcoin that mashes up the features of Bitcoin Gold and Zcash/Zclassic). Zclassic holders and Bitcoin Holders will get Bitcoin Private ( BTCP), you need to hold Zclassic and Bitcoin for the fork. The supply is 19,700,000 BTCP (supply BTC + supply ZCL). Please note that you’ll likely need to hold Zclassic in a Zclassic wallet to be privy to this, thus buying and holding on Bittrex, for example, may not be enough. Snapshot date: The fork occurs February 28th, 2018 according to the official site, however no snapshot block height has been announced yet. Fork Date & Main Net Launch: Approximately 2 days after the snapshot occurs. See Zclassic Twitter: //twitter.com/zclassiccoin and Zclassic Dev’s Twitter: //twitter.com/HeyRhett
  27. Bitcoin Hush (BTCH): Like with Zclassic, Bitcoin Hush is a proposed cross-coin fork-type-thing (an “immaculate merge fork” according to the devs). To quoth the BTCH GitHub: “For each 1 HUSH, you will get 1 BTCH. For each 1 SUPERNET, you will get 1 BTCH. For each 1 DEX, you will get 1 BTCH. For each 1 BTC, you will get 1 BTCH. BTCH takes the value from four different blockchains (HUSH, SUPERNET, DEX, BTC), and then dumps it onto a host chain Komodo (KMD).” The concept being that you can hold any or all of those coins, then you’ll configure the upcoming wallet to claim the coins. There is no block announced. The original date given was 12 pm NOON UTC on Jan 16th, 2018. However, it was moved to “a block height closest to (but not later than) 12 pm NOON UTC on Feb 1st, 2018. //bitcoinhush.github.io/ and //btchush.org/.
  28. Quantum Bitcoin (QBTC). This fork seems to have occurred, the information on it is limited. //www.quantumbitcoin.top/.
  29. Bitcoin LITE (BTCL): This fork seems to have occurred, the information on it is limited. https://www.bitcoinlite.net/.
  30. Bitcoin 2: 507089. NOTE: At this point in the list I stop trying to describe every coin. I will from now on only discuss coins that I can confirm are worth taking seriously with the exception of Clean and Lunar (as those were already written).
  31. Big Bitcoin: 508888
  32. Bitcoin Cloud: 510048.
  33. Bitcoin Candy: 512666.
  34. Bitcoin Lambo: 515350
  35. ClassicBitcoin: 516095.
  36. BitcoinClean: BitcoinClean is a “green” Bitcoin fork (it is meant to be energy friendly in terms of mining). According to the site, the fork occurs at block  517799. The block is projected to occur Tuesday, April 18th, 2018, 4:30 am (UTC). Block 518800 will be the first bitcoinClean block. //www.bitcoinclean.org.
  37. Bitcoin Lunar (BCL): A potential fork, almost no information about what it does online. The name implies that it will occur the first day of spring is the 20th March 2018 and at 4:20 GMT (according to their Twitter). //www.bitcoinlunar.org/
  38. Bitcoin Prime: TBA. A fork of Primecoin and Bitcoin, with atomic swaps. It is like the Zclassic fork Bitcoin Private where two coins fork into one. Perhaps not surprisingly it being developed by the developer of Zclassic. https://bitcoinprime.org/
  39. Anonymous Bitcoin (ANON): A privacy bitcoin with masternodes. It is a fork of Zclassic and Bitcoin. One might think it has the same devs as Bitcoin prime, but one would be wrong. Just a similar method of forking. Snapshot is Sept 10 according to ANON’s Twitterhttps://www.anonymousbitcoin.io/
  40. Bitcoin SV (BSV): Bitcoin Cash is in a contentious fork. The end result was as expected, 2 versions of BCH, ABC and SV (the snapshot was at Unix timestamp 1542300000, that is 11/15/2018 at 4:40pm UTC). This isn’t a Bitcoin fork, but since Bitcoin Cash is a fork of Bitcoin, it makes the list. The details are complex, so see our page on the Bitcoin Cash fork Bitcoin SV.
  41. Smart Bitcoin: 52000 (oddly, not related to Bitcoin Smart).
  42. Fox BTC: 520419.
  43. Bitcoin Reference Line: 523118.
  44. MicroBitcoin: 525000.
  45. BItcoin Class: 528000.
  46. Bitcoin Dao: 531650.
  47. Bitcoin RM: 537746.
  48. Bitcoin Air: 5510000.
  49. Bitcoin Post-Quantum: 555000.
  50. Bithereum: 555555.
  51. Bitcoin Stash: 556766.
  52. Bitcoin Core (this is an absurd name given people call the original Bitcoin “Bitcoin Core,” but like…. this list is beyond absurd already): 576698.
  53. Bitcoin Dollar: TBA.
  54. Bitcoin Metal: TBA.
  55. Hex: TBA.
  56. Bitcoin All: TBA.
  57. BitcoinCash Zero: TBA.
  58. More Bitcoin forks coming soon.

TIP: See block explorer for the current block height (AKA block number) to get an idea when a given fork will occur. Ratio is 1:1. Snapshot is 9/10/2018 (no block heights yet).

Other Sites for Forks: For more on upcoming Bitcoin forks see ForkDrop.io and Forks.net (sites like this didn’t exist when we started our Bitcoin Forks list, but today there are handy sites that specialize in listing forks). Specifically, ForkDrop.io is very useful when it comes to raw lists. Just remember what you learned on our site about not every fork having the same integrity, about how to safely claim forks, and about there being potential to download malware wallets if you aren’t very careful (make sure to follow best practices)! These others sites are great for lists, but they aren’t necessarily taking the time to teach you about how to claim forks and how to watch out for scams. So bookmark this page before hopping over to them 😉

NOTE: Of all the above forks almost none have performed well and got listed on major exchanges. If you sort on ForkDrop.io by value, you’ll see that only a handful of forks ever were ever worth claiming.

How to Understand the Above Forks

To summarize and connect some dots, each coin above tends to be a Bitcoin version of another coin or a Bitcoin with a feature common in crypto. So for example a Bitcoin with Ethereum like smart contracts, or a Bitcoin with privacy like Monero.

Here are some examples:

Super Bitcoin and BitcoinX are Ethereum competitors of sorts; they use smart contracts like the Ethereum network.

Bitcoin Platinum and Bitcoin Cash Plus are both essentially Bitcoin Cash competitors since they are competitors for Bitcoin as a currency.

Lightning Bitcoin is a mix of Super Bitcoin or BitcoinX and Bitcoin Platinum or Bitcoin Cash Plus since they are meant to be competitive as a currency and use smart contracts. Bitcoin Interest is a proof of stake Bitcoin, a seldom-used alternative to proof of work that pays interest to holders.

Bitcoin Silver and Bitcoin Uranium are both Bitcoin Gold competitors, competitors for Bitcoin as a value store that is profitable to mine.

Bitcoin private is a private version of Bitcoin Gold.

Bitcoin God is a mix of all these meant to reward people for holding Bitcoin.

And so and so on.

Past Bitcoin Hard Forks and More Notes on Bitcoin Forks

More than just the forksBitcoin United (United Bitcoin) is another potential Bitcoin product (of sorts). It isn’t clear if this project is a fork or is an attempt to create another coin. It seems to have two associated URLs //united-bitcoin.com/ and //www.ub.com/ (this, however, is not the same as //unitedbitcoin.net/). It is unclear which if any is “the official link.”  The problem with this project is that it has been in the works for a while, and it hasn’t become any clearer if it is legit or not. See an article from July: What Is Bitcoin United and Should You Trust It? Not much has changed since July.

PAST BITCOIN HARD FORKS: Past hard forks that occurred in or were planned for 2017 include: Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin Segwit2x (was canceled but futures were traded), Bytether, and Bitcoin Diamond (futures traded, but blockchain is not live yet). There was also a joke hard fork from Bitcoin Cash’s time called Bitcoin Clashic (this fork really occurred and transactions are being confirmed, but it was poking fun at Bitcoin Cash). Past hard forks from previous years include Bitcoin XT, Bitcoin Classic, and Bitcoin Unlimited. Yes, that really is a full list of every hard fork before late 2017. Meanwhile, BitcoinRed, BitcoinDark, BitcoinZ, and Bitcoin Scrypt were all past attempts to create alternatives to Bitcoin but were not created as forks. Meanwhile, some coins like CLAMS were distributed to Bitcoin holders.

NOTE: “Being in Bitcoin for a given fork” (holding coins before the snapshot block) is sensible. You should not, however, try to claim or buy any of the above coins without confirmation from some major wallets or exchanges that the coin is live and stable. There is very likely to be people out there creating fake wallets, directions, buying opportunities, etc.

NOTE: If you didn’t catch it, most of those forks have rather absurd taglines like “make Bitcoin great again.” Bitcoin Gold had such a tagline and ended up being real. Meanwhile, the Segwit2x fork was a serious project but was canceled. Thus, be skeptical, but be prepared in case some of these do end up being actual forks. Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, and Bitcoin Diamond forks all occurred. Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold ended up being real. Meanwhile, it appears Bitcoin Diamond, BitcoinX, and SuperBitcoin are all real as well. People dismissed Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold before they occurred. It is easy to be dismissive, but it’s far safer to assume the forks are real. Thus, you need to be careful sending Bitcoins after they occur and also to make sure you are in Bitcoin before the fork.

How to Get Forked Coins

To ensure you get your coins from the above Bitcoin forks for the Bitcoin you are holding, make sure to be in a Bitcoin wallet that supports the forks (Coinomi has been good about this).

You can also use an exchange like Binance with a good record of supporting forks. Binance has supported Bitcoin Cash, Gold, Segwit2x, Diamond, and Super Bitcoin and has offered futures on or around the snapshot date for each as far as I recall; meanwhile, as a user pointed out, hitbtc has been good about supporting forks. Super Bitcoin futures were tradable on hitbtc immediately after the fork for example.

Otherwise, you need to be in control of your private keys when the forks occur (for example in a wallet like Bitcoin Core). In general, being in control of your private keys is the recommended method.

To claim your fork coins you will need to then follow the directions of a third party wallet or platform if you used of those. Meanwhile, if you were in control of your private keys, you will need to download the official wallet of the new coin from the official website and then configure that wallet to claim your coins (essentially you make a copy of the private key / public address that you had your Bitcoin in when the snapshot occurred, and then you use that to configure the forked coin’s wallet).

Unless you have futures on an exchange that lets you trade them, you’ll have to wait until the forked chain goes live to collect your forked coins and you’ll need to wait until it is listed on an exchange to trade it.

TIP: It is good practice to wait until someone else braves the process of claiming a forked coin. Checking Medium.com and the official site for directions generally works; Meanwhile, one should be wary of random internet directions not featured on a trusted site.

WARNING: If you are going to claim coins from a fork, it is good practice to move your Bitcoin balance to another address first (so be in for the snapshot, but then move you balance before you claim the forked coin via the new coin’s wallet). Putting private keys associated with balances of Bitcoin into a malicious or poorly implemented wallet could result in you losing your original coins if something goes wrong.

TIP: Learn more about how forks work and how to get “forked coins” from forks.

Article Citations
  1. The Upcoming Bitcoin Hard Forks: What You Need to Know. CoinCentral.com. December 18, 2017, | Colin Harper
  2. Upcoming Bitcoin Forks in 2018 – Here’s What to Watch For. 99Bitcoins.com.
  3. List of Bitcoin Forks. Iconow.net.

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),...