A List of Upcoming Bitcoin Forks and Past Forks

Your Guide to Upcoming Bitcoin Forks For 2019 and Beyond (As Well as a List of Past Bitcoin Forks)

We present a guide to Bitcoin forks including past forks and upcoming forks for 2022 and beyond. This page is from 2017, but is continuously updated.

An Introduction to Past and Upcoming Bitcoin Forks

First, in overly simple terms, a cryptocurrency “hard fork” is when a copy of a coin is made and a new coin is created. This results in those who held the coin on the old blockchain holding the new coin on the new blockchain (see important details below).

Meanwhile, a “soft fork” is when updates to the current chain are made but no new coin is created. These occur after BIP (Bitcoin Improvement Proposals), which are changes to the code, are accepted by enough miners. They are often contentious and require debate. Examples of this include Segwit for block limitations, Taproot privacy, and BIP-119 which was suggested in 2022 to help allow for Ethereum-like smart contracts on Bitcoin.

This page is mostly about hard forks, although we do provide a list of implemented, proposed, and upcoming soft forks below.

In terms of hard forks, Bitcoin forked more than once in its history producing forks with names like BitcoinXT and Bitcoin Classic. However, there weren’t many notable forks for most of Bitcoin’s existence in the early days. Then in 2017 two notable forks appeared Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold.

From that point forward, perhaps due to the success of Bitcoin Cash specifically, a number of Bitcoin forks began to be announced toward the end of 2017.

Forks announced in late 2017 included Super Bitcoin, Bitcoin Platinum, Bitcoin Cash Plus, Bitcoin Silver, Bitcoin Uranium, and Bitcoin God.

Following those forks, many more forks were announced such as Bitcoin Interest and Bitcoin Ore.

Over 2018 and 2019 many more forks were created, some forks themselves forked (like BCH forking to BSV), and even today forks continue to be announced. This trend then died down considerably, although it isn’t impossible that we see more soft and hard forks in the future.

Probably the most important thing to note before moving on is that only a small majority of these forks end up having active communities, stable wallets, and value. In many cases, forked coins end up being quick cash grabs, failed projects, jokes, or even scams. So in general, you should research a given fork before you claim it or chase after it.

Below is a full list of all Bitcoin forks past, present, and future. First a few more notes:

• Any given Bitcoin fork could end up being real or not. So far many folks have turned out to be legitimate, while a few are suspected to be fake. See notes below for specifics on each fork.
• From late 2017 to 2018 as many as 20 Bitcoin forks occurred, the amount of Bitcoin forks has only grown since then.
• Anyone holding Bitcoin in a wallet where they are in control of their private keys, or anyone holding Bitcoin on a platform the supports a given fork, will be privy to a given fork. Forked coins can be claimed after the Main Network goes live (something that generally happens a few days to weeks after a snapshot of the blockchain is taken at the “snapshot block”). How you claim your forked coins depends on where you hold your coins.
• It is rare for exchanges to support forks, so if you do want to claim forks, make sure to use a wallet where you control your private keys. That said, if you are going to claim forks, please read the advice below on best practices for claiming a fork!
• Each fork occurs at a block number (AKA block height). To qualify for the fork, you must be in Bitcoin before the block height for that fork occurs.

Below we will list the forks and their block number alongside a short description, an approximate date when we have one, and the “official” URL (the URL of the coin or the closest thing we could find when that wasn’t an option).

See the additional notes at the bottom of the page for more information on how to claim forked coins and how to be in Bitcoin for the fork.

A List of Bitcoin Soft Forks

Here is a quick list of Bitcoin soft forks:

• Segwit. Implemented to deal with the block limitations issue. The debate over this also led to the Bitcoin Cash hard fork.
• Taproot. Added Schnorr signatures, and improved the ability to handle smart contracts. It also allowed for the Lightning Network.
• BIP-119 (Suggested). A 2022 proposal that would allow for “covenants,” which would greater enhance Bitcoins’ ability to handle smart contracts if accepted.

A List of Recent and Upcoming Bitcoin Forks 2017 – 2019 And Beyond

The following Bitcoin forks either occurred from 2017 – 2019 or are planned for 2019 and beyond.

Below that list is a list of past forks including Bitcoin Diamond, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin XT, and etc.[1][2][3]

WARNING: Be careful with clicking any of the URLS below. These are the most official URLs I could find for each fork, but not every planned fork is necessarily an upstanding project (and thus I can’t vouch for every URL). Try typing them into Google search first and make sure to heed any warnings like “site may be insecure.”

TIP: See block explorer for the current block height (AKA block number) to get an idea when a given fork will occur. Ratio is 1:1. Snapshot is 9/10/2018 (no block heights yet).

Other Sites for Forks: For more on upcoming Bitcoin forks see ForkDrop.io and Forks.net (sites like this didn’t exist when we started our Bitcoin Forks list, but today there are handy sites that specialize in listing forks). Specifically, ForkDrop.io is very useful when it comes to raw lists. Just remember what you learned on our site about not every fork having the same integrity, about how to safely claim forks, and about there being potential to download malware wallets if you aren’t very careful (make sure to follow best practices)! These others sites are great for lists, but they aren’t necessarily taking the time to teach you about how to claim forks and how to watch out for scams. So bookmark this page before hopping over to them 😉

NOTE: Of all the above forks almost none have performed well and got listed on major exchanges. If you sort on ForkDrop.io by value, you’ll see that only a handful of forks ever were ever worth claiming.

How to Understand the Above Forks

To summarize and connect some dots, each coin above tends to be a Bitcoin version of another coin or a Bitcoin with a feature common in crypto. So for example a Bitcoin with Ethereum like smart contracts, or a Bitcoin with privacy like Monero.

Here are some examples:

Super Bitcoin and BitcoinX are Ethereum competitors of sorts; they use smart contracts like the Ethereum network.

Bitcoin Platinum and Bitcoin Cash Plus are both essentially Bitcoin Cash competitors since they are competitors for Bitcoin as a currency.

Lightning Bitcoin is a mix of Super Bitcoin or BitcoinX and Bitcoin Platinum or Bitcoin Cash Plus since they are meant to be competitive as a currency and use smart contracts. Bitcoin Interest is a proof of stake Bitcoin, a seldom-used alternative to proof of work that pays interest to holders.

Bitcoin Silver and Bitcoin Uranium are both Bitcoin Gold competitors, competitors for Bitcoin as a value store that is profitable to mine.

Bitcoin private is a private version of Bitcoin Gold.

Bitcoin God is a mix of all these meant to reward people for holding Bitcoin.

And so and so on.

Past Bitcoin Hard Forks and More Notes on Bitcoin Forks

More than just the forks: Bitcoin United (United Bitcoin) is another potential Bitcoin product (of sorts). It isn’t clear if this project is a fork or is an attempt to create another coin. It seems to have two associated URLs //united-bitcoin.com/ and //www.ub.com/ (this, however, is not the same as //unitedbitcoin.net/). It is unclear which if any is “the official link.”  The problem with this project is that it has been in the works for a while, and it hasn’t become any clearer if it is legit or not. See an article from July: What Is Bitcoin United and Should You Trust It? Not much has changed since July.

PAST BITCOIN HARD FORKS: Past hard forks that occurred in or were planned for 2017 include: Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin Segwit2x (was canceled but futures were traded), Bytether, and Bitcoin Diamond (futures traded, but blockchain is not live yet). There was also a joke hard fork from Bitcoin Cash’s time called Bitcoin Clashic (this fork really occurred and transactions are being confirmed, but it was poking fun at Bitcoin Cash). Past hard forks from previous years include Bitcoin XT, Bitcoin Classic, and Bitcoin Unlimited. Yes, that really is a full list of every hard fork before late 2017. Meanwhile, BitcoinRed, BitcoinDark, BitcoinZ, and Bitcoin Scrypt were all past attempts to create alternatives to Bitcoin but were not created as forks. Meanwhile, some coins like CLAMS were distributed to Bitcoin holders.

NOTE: “Being in Bitcoin for a given fork” (holding coins before the snapshot block) is sensible. You should not, however, try to claim or buy any of the above coins without confirmation from some major wallets or exchanges that the coin is live and stable. There is very likely to be people out there creating fake wallets, directions, buying opportunities, etc.

NOTE: If you didn’t catch it, most of those forks have rather absurd taglines like “make Bitcoin great again.” Bitcoin Gold had such a tagline and ended up being real. Meanwhile, the Segwit2x fork was a serious project but was canceled. Thus, be skeptical, but be prepared in case some of these do end up being actual forks. Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, and Bitcoin Diamond forks all occurred. Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold ended up being real. Meanwhile, it appears Bitcoin Diamond, BitcoinX, and SuperBitcoin are all real as well. People dismissed Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold before they occurred. It is easy to be dismissive, but it’s far safer to assume the forks are real. Thus, you need to be careful sending Bitcoins after they occur and also to make sure you are in Bitcoin before the fork.

How to Get Forked Coins

To ensure you get your coins from the above Bitcoin forks for the Bitcoin you are holding, make sure to be in a Bitcoin wallet that supports the forks (Coinomi has been good about this).

You can also use an exchange like Binance with a good record of supporting forks. Binance has supported Bitcoin Cash, Gold, Segwit2x, Diamond, and Super Bitcoin and has offered futures on or around the snapshot date for each as far as I recall; meanwhile, as a user pointed out, hitbtc has been good about supporting forks. Super Bitcoin futures were tradable on hitbtc immediately after the fork for example.

Otherwise, you need to be in control of your private keys when the forks occur (for example in a wallet like Bitcoin Core). In general, being in control of your private keys is the recommended method.

To claim your fork coins you will need to then follow the directions of a third party wallet or platform if you used of those. Meanwhile, if you were in control of your private keys, you will need to download the official wallet of the new coin from the official website and then configure that wallet to claim your coins (essentially you make a copy of the private key / public address that you had your Bitcoin in when the snapshot occurred, and then you use that to configure the forked coin’s wallet).

Unless you have futures on an exchange that lets you trade them, you’ll have to wait until the forked chain goes live to collect your forked coins and you’ll need to wait until it is listed on an exchange to trade it.

TIP: It is good practice to wait until someone else braves the process of claiming a forked coin. Checking Medium.com and the official site for directions generally works; Meanwhile, one should be wary of random internet directions not featured on a trusted site.

WARNING: If you are going to claim coins from a fork, it is good practice to move your Bitcoin balance to another address first (so be in for the snapshot, but then move you balance before you claim the forked coin via the new coin’s wallet). Putting private keys associated with balances of Bitcoin into a malicious or poorly implemented wallet could result in you losing your original coins if something goes wrong.

TIP: Learn more about how forks work and how to get “forked coins” from forks.