Claim Bitcoin Cash from Bitcoin Core to a full node wallet

Last updated: October 15, 2021 

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Step 4. Copy your Bitcoin Core wallet.dat file to Bitcoin ABC

The blockchain for Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash is identical before the hard fork. Your pre-fork Bitcoin wallet addresses and private keys to those addresses are valid for Bitcoin Cash. Therefore, to claim Bitcoin Cash to your Bitcoin ABC wallet, you will copy your Bitcoin Core wallet.dat file to the Bitcoin ABC data directory from Step 2.

Once Bitcoin ABC has fully synchronized with the Bitcoin Cash network, navigate to your Bitcoin Core wallet.dat file. The default file path to your Bitcoin Core wallet.dat file on Windows is:
C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\wallet.dat

Right-click on wallet.dat, and choose Copy. If you installed the Bitcoin ABC wallet on a different computer, paste the wallet.dat file onto a portable drive. Attach the portable drive to the computer where you installed the Bitcoin ABC wallet. Save the wallet.dat file from the portable drive to the following path:
C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\BitcoinABC\wallet.dat

If you installed the Bitcoin ABC wallet on the same computer, paste the wallet.dat file to the following location:
C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\BitcoinABC\wallet.dat

There is an existing wallet.dat file in the Bitcoin ABC wallet. Assuming you have no transactions yet in the Bitcoin ABC wallet, you can overwrite the existing Bitcoin ABC wallet.dat file with the copied Bitcoin Core wallet.dat file if prompted.

Step 5. Relaunch the Bitcoin ABC wallet

For your Bitcoin ABC wallet to use the wallet.dat file you copied from Bitcoin Core, close Bitcoin ABC. Once Bitcoin ABC shuts down, relaunch it. You should see the same pre-fork number of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) coins in your Bitcoin ABC wallet that you see in your Bitcoin Core (BTC) wallet.

Remember that Bitcoin ABC is a Bitcoin Cash (BCH) wallet only. Do not send BTC to a BCH wallet, and do not send BCH to a BTC wallet. Although they share the same namesake and pre-fork history, the networks are separate.

Step 6. Post-Claim Tasks

A. Make sure your Bitcoin ABC wallet works as you expect. Start by sending and receiving small trial BCH transactions. Wait for confirmations to accrue before proceeding with larger transaction amounts.

B. The Bitcoin ABC wallet is new software with a small user base and a brief history. Your Bitcoin Core (BTC) private keys are now in use with a fledgling Bitcoin ABC software wallet. As a precaution, consider sending the BTC in your Bitcoin Core wallet to another BTC wallet. This will protect your BTC with a different private key apart from your BCH.

C. Use the Blockchair website to explore your transactions on the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) blockchain. Copy a public wallet address used to claim BCH and paste it into the Blockchair search box. Or you may append a public wallet address to the following link: https://blockchair.com/bitcoin-cash/address/your-BCH-address-here

Thank you for visiting Tech Help Knowledgebase to learn how to claim Bitcoin Cash from Bitcoin Core to a full node wallet.

Tech Help KB Staff Writer

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