Kraken vs. Bitfinex - Paying Attention to Calculations Pays During Bitcoin (BTC) vs. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Fork
100% match vs. 85% match was the difference I received in Bitcoin Cash (BCH) for the Bitcoin (BTC) cryptocurrency I owned at Kraken vs. Bitfinex during the August 1, 2017 fork.
Had I done better due diligence, I may have considered putting all my Bitcoin at Kraken to get the extra 15%. But then again, maybe not. The reason I split my Bitcoin between the two exchanges was to hedge my bets. In fact, I even left 20% behind at Uphold, just in case the technical changes didn't go well.
You see, I've been involved in the Information Technology industry for 34 years and am very aware of all the things that could go wrong. Computer systems and applications are only as perfect as their makers, and no one is perfect!
The whole cryptocurrency world, while fascinating and exciting, is still new and has a level of risk that warrants a few steps to mitigate those risks. It's all about balancing risk and reward!
In this case, I didn't want all my eggs in one basket. Based on the recommendation of @dollarvigilante 's email newsletter, I already had a Kraken account (which, by the way, took several weeks to get approval). Based on last week's @dollarvigilante 's newsletter recommendation, thankfully, I was able to almost instantly set up an account at Bitfinex.
I'm a Master Program Manager, well versed at balancing risk and reward, so I spread my Bitcoin at 40% each at Kraken and Bitifinex, and as mentioned, leaving 20% at Uphold. As it turns out, Uphold announced that they will also be distributing BCH for BTC held. Had I done better due diligence, I would have know that ahead of time, but alas, even a well seasoned Master Program Manager is human! All's well that end's well, thank goodness!
So, lessons learned:
Find out what more experienced people recommend (again, thank you @dollarvigilante !).
Hedge your bets by spreading your risk, even if it means a little less reward. Better to keep some, than to lose all!
Don't procrastinate. Had I not already taken steps a few weeks ago to start a Kraken account, I would not have had the account set up in time if I had started last week. Further, not waiting for the last minute to move BTC from Coinbase worked out well since the mass exodus from Coinbase slowed down transactions.
So what lessons did you learn from this fork?