The Bitcoin Gold fork has officially taken place and has left investors with more questions than answers. The somewhat disorganized state of the Bitcoin Gold movement has even the most attentive experts in the scene unsure of what will happen next. Here are some of the key points regarding the fork.The key Bitcoin Gold (BTG) snapshot block 491,407 occurred on October 24 at approximately 2.00am GMT. Once this point was reached, the Bitcoin Gold team took a snapshot of the complete Bitcoin blockchain and split from the main net, forking the coin. As a result, Bitcoin (BTC) holders will be credited the equivalent amount of Bitcoin Gold (BTG) on a 1:1 basis i.e. 1 BTC held during the snapshot will get you 1 BTG. However, there are a number of different scenarios depending on where and how you chose to store your BTC.
BTG on a supported exchange
Exchanges such as Binance, Bittrex, Cex.io, HitBTC, and YoBit are accrediting accounts that held BTC before block 491,407 with equivalent amounts of BTG. The BTG deposits should show up almost immediately, however, it is still unknown how long it will take before the trading of BTG is enabled across these platforms. Despite providing support for BTG, exchanges are waiting for a number of security checks to be confirmed before allowing BTG to be traded.
BTG on a supported wallet
The Coinomi wallet has prepared a special BTG entry that allows users to view and store Bitcoin Gold via the wallet. Coinomi are providing full support for BTG but do not expect any transfers or trading of the coin until November 1. Both the Trezor and Ledger hardware wallets allow users to gain access to their BTG and plan to provide full support in the future that allows for the transfer of BTG.
BTG on an unsupported exchange
Coinbase, Kraken, and Poloniex do not plan to support Bitcoin Gold and as a result, there are no guarantees for users who kept funds on these platforms. These exchanges do not currently expect to provide BTG for users of their platforms, however, if there is a shift in policy and they enable support for Bitcoin Gold at a future date, customers should be able to withdraw Bitcoin Gold associated with their Bitcoin account balances at the time of the Bitcoin Gold fork.
BTG on an unsupported wallet
Wallets such as Bread, Exodus, Jaxx, and Mycelium do not currently plan to support BTG. In order to access their Bitcoin Gold, users will need to follow a process that allows them to gain control of their private keys. Users with access to their private keys can claim Bitcoin Gold by exporting the private keys and importing them into the dedicated Bitcoin Gold wallet when it becomes available.Storing your BTC on a compatible platform before block 491,407 was crucial in order to claim Bitcoin Gold, any funds sent after the snapshot block are not eligible for the BTG payout. It’s also important for BTC holders to show patience, as even the organizations that are providing support for BTG do not know exactly when the coin will be tradable.