Frequently Asked Questions
Why can't my address be checked?
Your address may be invalid, or it contains too many transactions. At this stage we do not support checking addresses containing more than 20 transactions.
Redeeming risk is high, why?
This means that you currently have Bitcoin at that same address, on the original chain. In order to redeem the coins on forked chains, you will have to share your private key, doing so will expose your original coins. More on this here.
Redeeming risk is mitigated, why?
Your original address does not contain Bitcoin any more, so redeeming your coins would not expose those coins, however you could still lose your forked coins when exposing your private keys. More on the risks of redeeming coins here.
What risks come with forked coins?
In order to redeem coins on a forked chain you must share your private key. This key works on both the original chain (Bitcoin) and the forked chain, and as a result funds on either chain can be compromised. You must never redeem forked coins if there are Bitcoins at that address, and you must never reuse that address. Always transfer your coins to another address prior to redeeming forked coins. If you must share your Bitcoin wallet seed, empty that wallet first and never reuse it again.
When a fork does not implement replay-protection, you are vulnerable to replay attacks when you transfer coins on either chain. A replay attack causes the transaction to be effective on both chains, even if it was only intended for one. So if you were sending 1 BTC to Alice, an attacker could force you to send 1 Forked Bitcoin to someone's Forked Bitcoin address, and vice-versa, causing funds to be lost on the other chain. When such a fork occur, you should not transact on either chain until replay transaction is effective.
Lastly, if the fork uses an identical address format, users are susceptible to send coins to an address that isn't on the intended chain, resulting in permanent loss. Always double check that you are sending coins from and to the same chain.
How to claim forked coins?
The most common method to claim forked coins is to use your private key to send the forked coins to a new address on the forked chain. To obtain a new address you will either use a wallet compatible with this fork, or use an address provided by an exchange. Do not install the first wallet you find, document yourself and seek advice from the community to avoid installing a misbehaving wallet. Also, remember that claiming comes with risks!
If you feel comfortable enough claiming the coins by yourself, you can make use of Ymgve's or Ayms' scripts. After searching for coins on our site, open the Advanced report to find the transaction IDs and indexes needed to claim the forks.
Some apps have been known to be used to redeem forked coins, namely Coinomi and Bitpie.
What risks come with redeeming services?
Redeeming services will generally ask you for your private keys or mnemonic seed. Sharing this information compromises an address or your entire wallet. It is crucial that you move all your funds out of said wallet, or address prior to redeeming your coins. And then you must never reuse said address or wallet, ever. Doing so ensures that your original funds are safe, and thus you only trust the 3rd party not to run away with all your forked coins.
I have Bitcoins but not a Bitcoin address
This probably means that your coins are handled and managed by a 3rd party. As you do not have access to the private keys yourself, you will have to rely on that 3rd party to give you access to your forked coins.
Can I give you my 12-words mnemonic seed instead?
No. You should never give your mnemonic seed to anyone. However, in the future we may add support for extended public keys in order to automatically derive your addresses.
It says I can redeem coins but there isn't any
It is possible that you have already redeemed the coins on the forked chain. Our results display the balance at the time of the fork, what happened after this is unknown. Use a block explorer of the forked chain to check the balance of your addresses.
A Bitcoin fork is missing from the list
As it's hard to keep up, we encourage you to help us maintain the list by suggesting a fork. However, note that we do not list forks where distribution/claiming is limited in time or not equally applied to all Bitcoin holders, otherwise known as airdrops.
