Risk Vs. Reward on the Bitcoin Cash Fork

The Bitcoin Cash fork is a little bit tricker to play than other forks. Here is a quick breakdown of risk vs. reward.

Reward: You get both versions of Bitcoin Cash if you are in for the Nov 15 fork. In the case where both ABC and SV preform well, you end up with both to trade and/or HODL. This best case essentially nets you “free money.” Imagine both preform well over time? Imagine both hold a decent value against BTC, that could be epic! Even right now ABC IOUs are at the price Bitcoin Cash was at its recent lows while SV IOUs are at $140. The total value there is a solid increase compared to Bitcoin Cash a few weeks back. Despite the drama, so far, so good.

Risk: The SV camp is  playing hard ball. It appears they have not implemented replay protection and have actually stated an intent to destroy ABC. If SV pulls a 51% attack and destroys ABC, or if the lack of replay protection leads to the devaluing of ABC, then you in a sense might not get “free money.” Instead you might get SV to trade/use…. and some ABC you can’t move around effectively locked on a dead chain. Your end result is potentially taking a loss in the short term, especially given the current market price of SV IOUs vs. ABC IOUs (quoted in at their current value above). Further, most exchanges have been super vague on which chains they will support. If you have your BCH on an exchange who doesn’t support both chains, then you don’t get to make your own choice on which chain to trade / hodl (meaning you could lose a chunk of your current BCH value).

Usually with a fork you are looking for two solid ideas, like Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, and hoping that you get “free money” when two respectable camps split ranks and go their own way.

With this fork that may be the outcome, but with Craig’s SV camp declaring war on Roger’s ABC camp, there is an extra layer of risk here that isn’t usually present in forks.

That said, this is also one of the most high profile forks of a high profile coin in crypto history… so it isn’t one to dismiss lightly, even with the risks considered.

TIP: Poloniex is the only exchange that clearly is supporting both chains at the moment. Meanwhile Bittrex has been the most clear of the exchanges not currently supporting both chains. Part of the risk is choosing the right exchange / wallet, so research carefully.

NOTE: If you don’t understand some of the jargon I used above, please read our detailed page on the Bitcoin Cash fork. This is a complex issue and I can’t cover every detail and create a short readable page at the same time 😉