Bitcoin Gold (BTG) was first introduced to the world on October 24th, 2017. Though the altcoin looks and functions the same as Bitcoin, BTG’s mining algorithm makes it much easier to mine on consumer-accessible GPUs.
Anyone who was holding Bitcoin (BTC) at the time Bitcoin Gold was created is eligible to collect an amount of Bitcoin Gold equal to the amount of Bitcoin they were holding (1:1).
Claim your Bitcoin Gold on Supported Exchanges
If you had your Bitcoins on an exchange that supports Bitcoin Gold during the snapshot date, then good news! You don’t need to do anything. Your account will automatically be credited with the proportional amount of BTG. Here is a list of exchanges that support Bitcoin Gold:
- HitBTC
- Binance
- YoBit
- Bleutrade
- BitStar
- Bitfinex
- Coinnest
- Gate.io
- Okex
- CEX.io
- BitFlyer
- Changelly
- BitBay
- Beatcoin
- Change Now
- Paribu
- Abucoins
- KKEX
If you weren’t so lucky as to have your Bitcoins on a supported exchange, no problem! Follow the guide below to claim your Bitcoin Gold in 5 minutes or less.
Claim your Bitcoin Gold with a Hardware Wallet
TREZOR
1. Update your firmware here
2. Use this tool to claim your BTG.
LEDGER NANO S
1. Be sure yuo are using the most recent Ledger Wallet Bitcoin Chrome app (v1.9.9)
2. Be sure you are using the most recent Ledger Nano S firmware (v1.3.1)
3. Install the Bitcoin Gold app on your Ledger through the Ledger Manager.
4. Run the Ledger Wallet Bitcoin Chrome app on your browser.
5. Run the Bitcoin Gold app on your Ledger.
6. Click on “BTG split tool” line on the Chrome app (below main options, next to “Need assistance?”)
7. If you have BTC on the Legacy chain, choose Legacy. Otherwise choose Segwit.
8. Allow the app to sync and you will find your BTG in the chain you chose in the previous step (Legacy/Segwit).
Claim Bitcoin Gold with Coinomi
For Android and iPhone users, you can easily claim your Bitcoin Gold using a wonderful wallet application called Coinomi. Download the app and follow the steps below:
0. For safety reasons, we recommend moving your BTC to a fresh new wallet (with a new private key) before starting this process. You will be exposing the private key and seed phrase of your old wallet which will leave it vulnerable.
1. Find your seed. This is the 12-24 word phrase you wrote down when you first created your wallet.
2. Import your seed into Coinomi by choosing “Restore a wallet.” If you already use Coinomi, BACK UP YOUR EXISTING WALLET FIRST. This is extremely important as this process could wipe your current Coinomi data.
3. Once your wallet is imported, click on “(+) COINS.”
4. Add Bitcoin Gold. (depending on the wallet you are importing from, you may need to go to “Advanced Settings” and type “M/44H/0H/0H” into the Derivation Path (BIP32).
5. Repeat the above process with any other eligible Bitcoin wallets you have.
**If you’re attempting to import a private key from a paper wallet or QR code, you should click “Create New Wallet” in Coinomi and click “Sweep Paper Wallet” in the settings.
Claim Bitcoin Gold with Electrum
If you had trouble with the previous options, you can extract the private keys of your Bitcoin addresses using Electrum and try importing those into Coinomi. This is how to do it:
1. Download Electrum.
2. Create a new wallet (choose “Standard wallet”).
3. Choose “I already have a seed” and create a new wallet with your seed phrase.
4. Export the private keys (Wallet>Private Keys>Export) to a CSV file.
5. In Coinomi, choose “Create a New Wallet.”
6. Click on the menu in the top right and choose “Sweep wallet.”
7. Enter your private keys and click “next.”
8. Never share your private keys with anyone!
The process is as follows: Download Electrum Create a new wallet from your seed phrase Export the private keys of your wallet Write down the private key that had Bitcoins in them prior to the fork Create a Coinomi BTG wallet Sweep the private key into the Coinomi BTG wallet
If you’re having trouble understanding the process, or you just don’t feel like reading today, here is a nice little tutorial video:
Where To Sell your Bitcoin Gold
Congratulations, you’ve claimed your Bitcoin Gold coins! Now, what do you do with them?! If you don’t plan to HODL, you can deposit BTG into HitBTC or Bittrex to sell it for BTC, USD, or any altcoin you want! You can make a deposit by going to your funds tab and clicking “Deposit” or “(+)” next to Bitcoin Gold (do not confuse BTG with BTC). It will take a few confirmations for your funds to appear in your exchange account. You can track the progress of your transactions using the Bitcoin Gold Block Explorer.
You can find the full list of Bitcoin Gold exchanges here on Coinmarketcap.
