Is there a good guide to convert a Bitcoin Core Wallet to Bitcoin Cash (on OSX)

Question

I got a wallet in Bitcoin Core.app version 0.14.2 on OSX. My last transaction is from years ago. How can I convert my wallet to Bitcoin Cash and what are the do's and don'ts? Basically I don't want to loose my coins. I heard that I could claim both new coins, its that true and how to do so?

Answer 1

The first paragraph in the answer to this question applies in your case (possible duplicate question?). As you run a full client (Bitcoin Core) it's easy, as Bitcoin Cash has equivalent apps which are forks of this. I used Bitcoin ABC.

I used a separate machine for the Bitcoin Cash wallet. It may be possible to run both on the same machine (with different data directories - see this issue) but despite being called 'Bitcoin ABC.app' if you try and install it on the same machine as one with Bitcoin Core, you will get a message offering to overwrite the latter. Comments on how to accomplish this on one machine are welcome.

1. Backup Bitcoin Core wallet (~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/wallet.dat) to a USB stick (we'll transfer it later). This is the key do, which of course you will have done already
2. On the second machine download Bitcoin ABC from bitcoinabc.org. Currently it is the .dmg file in the osx directory. I expect they'll improve the UX to have an easy Mac-specific download button soon.
3. To get the blockchain to sync either just run Bitcoin ABC until it does (it'll download a chain similar in size to the Bitcoin Core one i.e. - 150GB+) or copy the legacy part of the chain (common to both coins) from the Bitcoin Core data directory. As OP comments, a Time Machine or other backup is perfect for this. I'll update this answer if someone can comment on exactly how to do it without one, as ideally you'll need most of the contents of the blocks and chainstate directories - up until just before the fork date; 1 August. You'd then only need to sync since then.
4. Overwrite the new wallet.dat file Bitcoin ABC created (same location as above) with the one from step 1.
5. With both apps synced you should now be able to send/receive BTC/BCC independently of each other from the relevant app - i.e you now own both. Should you come down on one side of the fence & sell all of either you can of course remove it's app, data directory & return the spare/borrowed machine.

In terms of dont's, you should ignore any advice to export/mess with your private keys - especially is someone offers to claim your BCC coins for you if you send your keys..