Want to manage your Bitcoin Cash alongside your Bitcoin? With the new beta release of our open source Copay bitcoin wallet, that's no problem.
Since the creation of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) in August, we've received consistent feedback from our users asking us to support it. Bitcoin Cash is a fork of the Bitcoin blockchain which accepts much larger blocks of transactions, intended to provide the Bitcoin network with higher transaction capacity.
With this beta release, we're giving you the freedom to choose – or to use both BCH and BTC.
Creating a Bitcoin Cash Wallet
Want to enable Bitcoin Cash support in a Copay wallet app? Follow these steps.
- Go to "Settings" tab on your app home screen.
- Turn on the "Bitcoin Cash Support" switch.
- Create a new wallet.
- Select "Chain: BCH".
Done! The new wallet will operate on the Bitcoin Cash network. You can use it just like you would use any other Copay wallet. But be sure to never send BTC to a BCH address or BCH to a BTC address, as this will cause you to lose access to funds.
Getting Access to BCH – Pre-August 1st Wallets
If you had wallets with BTC before the August 1st 2017 hard fork, your BCH-compatible Copay wallet can now access the BCH balance created at the time of the fork. The BCH balance available to you will be equivalent to the BTC balance you had in your wallet at the time of the hard fork.
You can access those BCH balances by clicking on “Scan wallets for BCH” in "Settings" and selecting the appropriate wallets to duplicate. This step will duplicate the old BTC wallet, automatically creating a BCH wallet with the August 1st BCH balance.
New Payment Conventions for Bitcoin Cash
To safeguard our users, we have adopted a few new conventions to ensure users don’t accidentally send BTC to a BCH wallet or vice versa. While we are working with other wallet providers and exchanges to adopt these new conventions, not all services that support Bitcoin Cash have done so. Learn more about these conventions for Bitcoin Cash addresses, URIs, and payment requests.
Get Started with the Copay Bitcoin Cash Beta
Ready to get started? Email us to get access to the iOS beta, or add yourself as a beta tester if you have an Android device.
All you'll need to do is install the update on the same device that hosts your current bitcoin wallet. All of your current wallets will be accessible in the beta.
Remember that Bitcoin Cash wallet support is still in beta, so take care with your BCH funds. Our wallet team is standing by to respond to feedback and bugs.
