The Bitcoin Cash Fork (Bitcoin SV) Explained Simply

The Bitcoin Cash fork is on Nov 15 at 4:40pm UTC. The fork is expected to result in only two Bitcoin Cash tokens, Bitcoin ABC (BTCABC) and Bitcoin SV (BTCSV). Bitcoin Cash holders will get BTCABC and BTCSV, at a 1:1 ratio after the fork.

Semantics: On some exchanges BTCABC may simply be called Bitcoin Cash (so if you have say BCH and BTCSV, or if you have BCC and BTCSV, this is the same as having BTCABC and BTCSV). Also, these are sometimes called BCHABC and BCHSV.

Above I say this is the expected result, that is because there are a few other ways this could play out, and in fact the split could not happen at all (see a longer article on the Bitcoin Cash fork here).

Details aside, here is what you need to know assuming all goes as planned:

In general we suggest to be in control of your private keys to get forked assets. However, 1. this is a high profile fork and many exchanges are supporting it, and 2. there is word that SV doesn’t have replay protection (which means you are advised to not move Bitcoin Cash after the fork if you don’t understand how to protect yourself against this).

If you want to trade the forked asset, Bittrex and Poloniex are two exchanges who have explicitly stated their support of ABC and SV. Of those Poloniex is allowing early trading, and Bittrex has said it will take all reasonable measures to credit users with SV.

Meanwhile, Coinbase, Binance, and a few others strongly suggested they will credit users.

Lastly, a few exchanges have meanwhile said they will only support ABC, for example Kraken and Bitmex (the current BCH contract is a BTCABC contract).

Exchanges generally have custodial wallets, this means:

1. You don’t own your coins, and if they don’t credit you for the fork there may be nothing you can do about it.
2. You will likely need to have your coins on that exchange early to qualify for the exchange’s own snapshot (they may also freeze trading, deposits, and withdrawals before the fork).
3. You won’t have to worry about replay protection when it comes to trading on major exchanges, as they should account for this for you.

The direction you choose is up to you, but generally being in control of your private keys, Poloniex, and Bittrex seem like top choices right now

The Bottomline: Be in BCH before the snapshot, and be on the platform you want to be on after the fork. Don’t move either coin off that address or platform until you hear word that moving your BCH is safe. If you are on an exchange, you can trade your forked asset, but you are taking a risk if you move your funds off exchange or between wallets if it is true that SV doesn’t have replay protection. That said, yay “free” money… maybe, depending on details we didn’t cover here! Remember what I said, nothing about this fork is 100% certain yet.

Why is the fork happening? There is an internal argument over the direction of Bitcoin Cash.

Want to learn more about the Bitcoin Cash Fork? We wrote about it in length here. This page is just about relaying the basics.