Forking bitcoin used to be a rarity. Then it became the norm. And then it became a meme, with anyone and everyone forking bitcoin on a weekly basis. There have now been a total of 69 bitcoin forks plus another 18 altcoin forks. Holders of bitcoin, monero, ethereum, and litecoin can claim almost 80 additional coins for free. Whether it’s worth their time to do so, however, is another matter.
Of the 69 bitcoin forks to date, just 10 are tradable on exchanges. Combined, these have a value of $941, or around 0.12 BTC. Take bitcoin cash out of the question and you’re left with only $206 or 0.026 BTC. Unless you’re sitting on a trove of bitcoins, claiming these forked coins simply isn’t worth it. And for those who are blessed with a bountiful supply of BTC, moving them, and risking exposing your private key on a third party site, to claim an additional 2.5% of BTC simply isn’t worth it