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.
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),...
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I made Surata
Bitcoin diamond is best I believe the price will moon in less 3 years
Thomas DeMicheleThe Author
It has been proven more than once that any coin that trades on enough exchanges can moon. Heck, I’ve seen coins that trade on little more than EtherDelta moon. I don’t know from what frame I would consider Bitcoin Diamond “the best” though personally.
Its a good moonshot, but it doesn’t have the brand name or awareness that Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, or even Bitcoin Gold has.
That said, I could see Diamond doing well in the next proper bull cycle (or at least some future bull cycle).
vagumera
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?
Thomas DeMicheleThe Author
I’ve heard of that. I really don’t have a clue as to why this is the case, but I heard someone mention this before. Maybe someone else will have insight.
String
I think the above warning advise is very sound.Look be for you leap.
Thomas DeMicheleThe Author
Always gotta do that with crypto. Being emotional and chasing coins and forks is generally a bad idea. There are always malicious actors creating fake wallets and such trying to catch people rushing to get their free coins. Don’t want to get caught up in that.
DM
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.
Thomas DeMicheleThe Author
Yeah. I mean there are a ton of red flags here… but there were for Bitcoin Gold too (and that ended up being real). Thus, I don’t want to be overly dismissive.
Still, red flags everywhere with this one. I guess we wait and see. Not sure I’d be buying futures until someone sees the code though. Seems like unnecessary risk.
Mahtab Syed Ali
Hi David,
Thanks for your very informative article.
I had my bitcoin on Exchange (https://acx.io/markets) at the time of fork. My exchange don’t support BCD. I moved them in my wallet after the fork date of 24/11.
Is there any way I can get these BCD? Or only my Exchange can do it. If they are not supporting it would we can do it by ourself?
Cheers
Thomas DeMicheleThe Author
When a fork occurs a snapshot is taken at a specific block height. At that point everyone who had coins on one chain now has them on the other.
Wherever you had your coins is where you had them. Nothing you can do if the place you had your coins won’t embrace the fork.
That said, many exchanges are simply waiting to make sure the fork is stable before they announce plans for the coin. They can’t give it out until the new chain is live, and I don’t think Bitcoin Diamond even has its code released to the public yet. So can’t expect much at this point (most exchanges and wallets haven’t said much yet from what I can tell).
Binanace is unique in offering futures. That is their offering, it is futures of the Bitcoin Diamond, not actual Bitcoin Diamond.
So, to your point, only your exchange can do it.
Shadow Forger
@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.
Thomas DeMicheleThe Author
“Drop” was not the best term to use. I gave the page an edit to avoid confusion.
I meant that although the snapshot took place, to my knowledge there is no way to claim the coin yet (unless you were on Binance and got your futures).
Consider bitcoin Gold for example. The snapshot was on the 25th, but the first day you could claim it was [I think, going off memory here] Nov. 2nd or so. The developers announced this when they were ready via the official Bitcoin Gold site.
So not “dropped” (like how a token would be sent to your wallet after an ICO went live) but “ready to claim.”
Really just my bad on using a misleading term. Thanks for saying something.
For the record your insight is correct, there isn’t some magic coin fairy who sends out coins when a hard fork occurs. The fork simply creates a new version of the existing chain, so anyone holding coins on the original chain now holds coins on the new chain by default. Then “claiming coins” means configuring a wallet, or downloading a wallet for that specific coin, once the new chain is ready.
Stuart wiltshire
You know what he ment stop splitting hairs,or is it coins lol
Billy Jones
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 🙂
Thomas DeMicheleThe Author
Rather unreal. But think of it like dividends. I get a few percentage points every year for holding stocks, forked coins aren’t that much different. Helps to think of it that way.
benj
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
Thomas DeMicheleThe Author
Great questions. I would not touch anything BCD related until more is known. The one exception to this is that selling BCD futures for $90 is hardly unreasonable.
The second we know something we will say something. And also, generally agree with what you say. Strange times.
Billy Jones
$90 is insane. That is $900 per Bitcoin because it’s 10x although I assume most don’t even know. Bitcoin Cash has tons of support and community and infrastructure and is at $1500. You think Bitcoin Diamond with none of that is worth $900?
This coin is going $10 if it’s lucky
Thomas DeMicheleThe Author
So if you base it on bitcoin gold, which ended up being real, then you could say $30-$40 is a fair price. However, it’s a future, so if you assume the price will be between bch and btg in the future it is a somewhat justifiable price. Ish, sort of, you really have to stretch your logic and make a few assumptions for that one. I wouldn’t buy it for that price until the coin is confirmed though. Gotta be a big risk taker to play the game at this point and price.
Ryan
This coin will be over $320 by March. Mark my words.
Thomas DeMicheleThe Author
Words marked. I think $300 is a reasonable target given the history of Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold and the cost of having a Bitcoin in the first place.