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I have an Electrum wallet since Nov 2016 with some BTC.

It seems that I automatically own BCH now (is this right?). What is the simplest way to sell this BCH into BTC?

Should I install a BCH wallet software (Electron?), and initialize it with the same Seed as electrum (isn't this dangerous?)?

Or is there another simpler system to sell my BCH into BTC?

Highly Irregular
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Basj
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3 Answers3

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Since you're using a local wallet, read these instructions on obtaining your BCH. For safety, you can transfer all your bitcoins to a new wallet first, then no longer use the old wallet for Bitcoin transactions. Also, installing BCH wallet software on a separate machine is a good idea as otherwise the Electron Cash wallet may sweep the machine for Bitcoin wallets and put your new wallet at risk.

There may be simpler methods, but at this point in time I'd expect they would increase your level of risk substantially.

To sell your BCH for BTC, you'll need to find an exchange you trust that handles both.

If you're interested, there was a fork into "Bitcoin Gold" too, on 24th Oct 2017, though it hasn't gone live just yet.

Highly Irregular
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    Thanks for your answer. transfer all your bitcoins to a new wallet first: will this involve transaction fees? an exchange you trust that handles both: could you recommend one? (I never know which one to choose) – Basj Nov 03 '17 at 14:00
  • @Basj on the Bitcoin network, yes, there is a high demand for transactions at the moment compared with the capacity, so you generally have to pay a transaction fee or the transaction won't get processed. https://bitcoinfees.earn.com/ gives an idea of the other transactions currently competing to be processed. I don't have an exchange to recommend, sorry; I haven't done this kind of trade myself yet. I suggest looking for one that has been around for a long time ie more than 3yrs, and trades a high volume. – Highly Irregular Nov 03 '17 at 18:54
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This document issued by Electrum team finally helped a lot:

Users who want to run the Electron Cash binaries should do it on a separate machine, that does not have their Bitcoin wallet. We recommend to proceed as follows:

  1. Install Electron Cash on a machine that does not have your Electrum wallets.

  2. Wait until the BCC hard fork has taken place, and a few BCC blocks have been mined.

  3. Move all your Electrum funds to a new Electrum wallet. This will move only your BTC, and not your BCC, because the BCC blockchain has replay protection. Wait until the transaction is confirmed.

  4. Enter the seed of your (now empty) old wallet or private keys in Electron Cash. Since the BTC have been moved to a new wallet, entering your old seed in Electron Cash will not put your BTC funds at risk.

Following these 4 easy steps you will be able to access your BCC without compromising your BTC.

Basj
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Step by step process:

Export your private key from Electrum Wallet

Go to Blockchain.info

Sign up and after logging in, go to settings. Then in settings, you will see addresses as shown below:

enter image description here

Then click on Import Bitcoin Address as shown:

enter image description here

Then add your private key as it is in the form as shown:

enter image description here

Click import, and you will be able to use your BTC again.

Transfer your BTC from that address/es to any other new address (just to be sure)

Now to get Bitcoin Cash, just go to Settings > General

There you will see a button near this to claim your Bitcoin Cash as well:

enter image description here

After this, there is an option in Blockchain.info itself to sell your BCH for BTC. Or you can send those to any other exchange out there.

Please follow that and let me know if you were able to retrieve the coins.

remedcu
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    Hum, is it really safe to give my private key on an online website? – Basj Nov 03 '17 at 10:42
  • @Basj No. By using an online wallet you are trusting whoever is managing the wallet. You can split your BCH with a local light wallet. Just be sure to transfer your BTC to a new wallet, as those keys aren't safe to re-use (you will have to expose them to your BCH wallet when you sweep in funds). – Shadow503 Nov 03 '17 at 13:55
  • @Shadow503 ok so I prefer not to use any web solution. How would you do it (selling the BCH that you automatically have to BTC)? – Basj Nov 03 '17 at 14:00
  • @Basj I misread your question - I thought you just wanted to split them. In theory, you could craft something called an atomic swap that would allow you to swap cryptos with someone in a trustless manner. Unfortunately, the transactions have to be manually crafted, and the infrastructure for finding a buyer just isn't there. For now, an exchange is necessary for crypto swapping.

    Revisiting your original question, as long as you move your BTC out of the wallet containing those private keys first, asterisk's solution has minimal risk. You still have to trust blockchain.info though.

     – Shadow503 Nov 03 '17 at 14:06
  • Not sure to understand @Shadow503, could you post a full answer explaining these details? (what do you call "split" them? I just want to sell the BCH into BTC and no longer have BCH). – Basj Nov 03 '17 at 14:08
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    Basj, please re-read my answer. I have specifically said "Transfer your BTC from that address/es to any other new address (just to be sure)" Even if you don't use a web solution, you need to share your private key with any other software, which may/maynot be compromised. So, I recommend you to transfer your fund before getting BTC and as @Shadow503 said, don't re-use those BTC addresses. – remedcu Nov 03 '17 at 14:08
  • asterisk, so are you saying I should transfer my BTC to another address first (does this involve transaction fee?) with standard Bitcoin (using Electrum). And then I use blockchain.info with the old address, right? – Basj Nov 03 '17 at 14:20
  • @Basj Exactly. This way you have no way to lose your BTC. As well, you will have total access to your BCH using blockchain.info :) – remedcu Nov 03 '17 at 14:28
  • @asterisk So I have to transfer BTC from my old addresses to new addresses, right? Will this involve fees? – Basj Nov 03 '17 at 14:29
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    Yes, it will incur normal transfer fees, but that is much better than the risk. – remedcu Nov 03 '17 at 14:37