Athena Bitcoin buys & sells Bitcoin Cash (BCH)!

Caution: Do NOT mistake “Bitcoin Cash” (BCH ) for “Bitcoin” (BTC)!

What is Bitcoin Cash?

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a fully independent currency that features a different price, development team, and community compared with Bitcoin (BTC). It is supported by those who disagreed with Bitcoin’s development path and wished to increase the legacy blocksize immediately (Bitcoin Cash can support blocks up to 32 MBs). It is also a rejection of the Segwit upgrade that Bitcoin adopted in 2017. Bitcoin Cash currently features lower network fees than Bitcoin.

Do I need a special wallet to use Bitcoin Cash?

Yes, you need a wallet app that can understand Bitcoin Cash, most of which also let you use Bitcoin separately. We can recommend that you look into the following options, but we cannot guarantee their functionality, security, or suitability for any purpose, nor do we provide technical support for these wallets. Of these only Edge, Coinomi, Exodus, and the hardware wallets can store your bitcoin, litecoin, ether, and bitcoin cash all in one solution.

Mobile – Android: Edge – Bitcoin.com – Bread – Copay – Coinomi
Mobile – Apple iOS: Edge – Bitcoin.com – Bread – Copay – Coinomi
Desktop – Windows/Mac: Exodus – Blockchain – Electron Cash – Copay
Hardware: Ledger – Trezor – KeepKey

Is Bitcoin Cash interchangeable with Bitcoin?

NO. Bitcoin Cash is a completely separate currency. Just like with Litecoin, you need a Bitcoin Cash (BCH) supporting wallet app on your phone or computer and/or a BCH supporting destination to use Bitcoin Cash. It’s very important to remember that….

Sending BCH to a BTC address, or the reverse, can result in the loss of your funds!

Bitcoin Cash began by using the same address format as Bitcoin, so it was impossible to tell the currencies apart just by address alone. While you may still run into old-style BCH addresses, much of the BCH community has now switched to a dedicated address format to reduce error and confusion.

Example Bitcoin (BTC) address:

1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa
Example new-style Bitcoin Cash (BCH) address:

qp3wjpa3tjlj042z2wv7hahsldgwhwy0rq9sywjpyy

Most Bitcoin Cash addresses will now begin with a “q” or “p” and will be all lowercase. Only these addresses will be accepted at our ATMs! Please make sure you are using a compatible Bitcoin Cash wallet (see below).

Where can I find an Athena ATM that sells Litecoin?

Litecoin is available at ALL Athena ATMs in our network! Please see our Locations page for your nearest ATM.

Bitcoin or alternative currencies? What should I use?

All currencies sold at an Athena ATM have valid uses both as a payment form and as a speculative asset. Bitcoin is the most valuable and most widely used cryptocurrency.

If you are looking to save network fees using a digital currency or are looking for a faster transaction experience and your destination also accepts one of these currencies, then one of the alternative currencies will likely be a better choice for your payment. You can purchase them directly from our ATMs with cash; the process is nearly the same as buying bitcoin. Just remember that Bitcoin Cash addresses begin with “q” or “p” and you will need a valid address to receive BCH.

Further Questions?

We are here to help. If you need assistance please feel free to call or chat with us.

We also have written a guide for looking up your Litecoin transactions.