BTC and BCH and paper wallet

Question

I have been gifted a paper wallet prior to the BTC/BCH fork. I have set up a Blockchain account and a Coinbase account (both empty at this time) on my computer and my tablet. Do I need 2 accounts each, one for BTC and o.ne for BCH. I'm still struggling with the procedure to empty the paper into the Blockchain. I suppose this goes first into the tablet as an electronic wallet? Thought I was computer savvy but this is tasking me!!! Any help will be appreciated.

Answer 1

You don't need 2 accounts on each. CB for example lets your switch between BTC and BCH wallets under one account.

You just import the private key from the paper into say a "electrum" wallet for the bitcoin. Then transfer the bitcoins out. Then you import the same key into a bcash wallet like "Electron Cash"

https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@lukestokes/step-by-step-getting-your-bitcoin-cash-out-of-a-bitcoin-paper-wallet

Answer 2

I would recommend using your Blockchain.info wallet which supports both BTC and BCH but gives you full control over your private keys as opposed to Coinbase which controls your private keys. To import your coins into your Blockchain.info wallet from your paper wallet do the following:

1. Log into your wallet
2. Click “Settings” on the left hand side of the screen
3. Click “Addresses” from the dropdown list
4. On this screen you can select either “Bitcoin” or “Bitcoin Cash”. Select “Bitcoin”
5. Click on “Import Bitcoin Address”
6. Enter in your private key from your paper wallet and this will “sweep” all your Bitcoin into your Blockchain.info wallet.

The same private key also controls your Bitcoin Cash since you had them in the paper wallet pre-fork. I’m not sure if the above automatically imports your Bitcoin Cash into the Bitcoin Cash section of your wallet or if you have to repeat the process under the Bitcoin Cash option. Either way your coins are still under your control. Now you can start transacting with them on their respective blockchains. If you aren’t planning on doing any transactions with then, I would just keep them in the paper wallet as this does not expose your private keys to the internet for potential hackers. Just make a backup copy or two of your paper wallet and keep in a totally separate (off-site) secure location in case of catastrophic loss to the original paper.