Bitcoin debuted exactly 15 years ago and is now at its strongest point.
Today, it is the first in the world and the most expensive, popular, and stable cryptocurrency.
However, it is not perfect. One of the most pressing issues for cryptocurrency has always been scalability.
More specifically, the transaction block’s size was limited to one megabyte when Bitcoin was created.
This limit causes a significant delay in transaction processing times and limits the number of transactions the network can process.
But Bitcoin Cash was a different story. It differs from other versions in that it enables the block size to increase from one megabyte to eight megabytes.
The overall goal is to increase the number of transactions that can be processed by the network, with the hope that Bitcoin Cash will be able to compete with the volume of transactions that industry giants like PayPal and Visa can currently process.
Bitcoin Cash was launched in August 2017 and has since become the most successful Bitcoin fork.
Bitcoin hard fork story
The one-megabyte limit on the size of each block was originally implemented to reduce the possibility of hacking and DoS attacks.
With not many transactions occurring on the network, the cap had no effect.
But as Bitcoin grew to become more popular, the limit began to cause blocks to pile up, unnecessarily extending transfer times.
The situation got out of control in May 2017, when some users reported waiting for transaction confirmations for up to four days.
Users had the opportunity to pay higher transaction fees to speed up the confirmation process.
However, this approach has made Bitcoin useless as a payment method, especially when it comes to small-sized transactions.
For example, paying for a sandwich or a cup of coffee with Bitcoin was not viable.
A $3 cup of coffee will incur a transaction fee of over $15. Otherwise, the seller will receive a small amount that cannot be spent.
The Bitcoin community has proposed two potential solutions to this situation: Bitcoin Unlimited and Separation of Transaction Signatures (SEGWIT).
Bitcoin Unlimited will eliminate the block size limit.
Many miners were in favor of this solution because not having a block size limit would not only prevent blocks from accumulating but also increase the overall fees that the miner would receive per block.
However, many developers opposed this proposal, considering that its implementation would result in small miners being unable to participate.
Which in turn may lead to the centralization of the entire network by huge mining companies.
The solution to separate transaction signatures involves storing some information in separate files outside the blockchain.
The developers claimed that it would save a lot of storage space, which would make blocks fit more transactions which would significantly reduce confirmation time.
However, many people believed that it was just a more complicated temporary solution compared to Bitcoin Unlimited’s approach.
As a result, a compromise protocol called SegWit 2 was developed.
Running this protocol means storing some information outside the blockchain in addition to increasing the block size limit to 2 MB.
The protocol was implemented on August 1, 2017, after 95 percent of miners voted on the proposal.
However, the network did not see an immediate increase in the block size limit.
For many people, this meant postponing the problem rather than solving it.
Furthermore, this decision appears to serve those who treat Bitcoin as an investment opportunity and not the payment system it was created to be.
Then, during the Bitcoin Future conference in Arnhem, Netherlands, the first implementation of the Bitcoin Cash protocol was announced as Bitcoin ABC by Amaury Séchet, a former Facebook engineer.
Séchet and his team of developers decided to abandon the SegWit 2 protocol and increase the maximum block size to 8 MB.
Since such radical changes would require a fork of the original Bitcoin network to create, a hard fork was announced on August 1, 2017.
For those who don’t know, a hard fork is currently the only known way for software developers to update Bitcoin software.
The developers split the network and created a new blockchain with modified rules.
The original and forked version of the cryptocurrency had an identical blockchain until the block at which the fork occurred. From there, the two networks existed independently.
After the fork occurred, everyone who owned Bitcoin before the hard fork received the same amount of Bitcoin Cash.
The new currency was quickly adopted by investors, as by the end of the first day of its existence, Bitcoin Cash became the third digital currency after Bitcoin and Ethereum in terms of market capitalization.
Is Bitcoin Cash cheaper to use than Bitcoin Core?
In short: yes. The ever-increasing fees associated with Bitcoin transactions were one of the main reasons to start using Bitcoin Cash.
A practical test, conducted in December 2017, showed that a Bitcoin Cash transaction was 99.56% cheaper than the equivalent transaction on the original Bitcoin network.
At the end of 2017, people were paying an average of $28 in transaction fees to transfer their bitcoins.
One person even claimed that he had to pay $16 to send $25 worth of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Hard Fork Critics
In the world of cryptocurrencies, a hard fork is always a worrying event.
Many people believe that it contradicts the principle of blockchain immutability and contradicts the principle of “code is law.”
When it comes to this hard fork in particular, many critics worry that the computer power required to process larger blocks will lead to a reduction in the number of smaller miners.
This may lead to the concentration of decision-making power in the hands of larger companies that can afford more costs and better equipment.
Finally, since everyone who held Bitcoin before the fork received an equal amount of Bitcoin Cash, some people expressed concerns that the fork was nothing more than a money-making scheme.
The hard fork created a situation similar to the double spending problem, as it made it possible to perform two transactions from a single wallet using the same set of keys.
Who is Roger Ver?
Roger Ver is a prominent investor and one of the early advocates of Bitcoin Cash.
He has invested more than $1 million in various Bitcoin startups, including Ripple, Zcash, Blockchain.com, BitPay, Bourse.io, and Kraken.
He is also the CEO of Bitcoin.com and one of five founders of the Bitcoin Foundation, to which he has also donated more than $1 million worth of Bitcoin.
Ver sees Bitcoin as a means to achieve economic freedom. He is also known in the cryptocurrency community as Jesus Bitcoin.
But these days, Roger Ver is defending Bitcoin Cash.
In a recent interview, Ver described Bitcoin Cash as the real Bitcoin.
Claiming that it will have a larger market value, trading volume, and user base shortly.
He was also quoted as saying that he keeps the majority of his cryptocurrency funds in Bitcoin Cash, which is perhaps the biggest indication of his belief in BCH.
Should I invest in Bitcoin Cash?
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Bitcoin Cash hasn’t been around for long, but it has proven itself as a very powerful cryptocurrency.
At the time of writing this article, this was the 15th largest currency in the world by market capitalization.
For many people, Bitcoin Cash has become the solution to everything that was wrong with the original Bitcoin, and it continues to gain new followers day after day.
In general, all investing and trading moves involve risk, and you should conduct your research when making any decision.
Does Bitcoin Cash price depend on Bitcoin price?
Bitcoin Cash is a completely independent cryptocurrency, so its price does not depend on Bitcoin price.
However, it is important to note that Bitcoin is still the world’s dominant cryptocurrency.
So whether it rises or falls, the absolute majority of other currencies are likely to follow its direction.
Where can I buy Bitcoin Cash?
Since Bitcoin Cash is a relatively new cryptocurrency, not all major exchanges support it yet.
Below is a list of exchanges operating around the world where you can trade Bitcoin Cash for another fiat or crypto:
Bitcoin Cash is also supported by Changelly, a service that enables users to trade between different cryptocurrencies quickly.
Read Also: How to Sell Bitcoin Cash?
Where can I store Bitcoin Cash?
| Wallet name | Wallet type | Platform (PC and/or mobile) | Price |
| Ledger Nano S | Hardware wallet | – | From 79 euros |
| Trezor | Hardware wallet | – | From 89 euros |
| KeepKey | Hardware wallet | – | From 78 euros |
| Electron Cash | Computer/mobile | Mac OS, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS | Free |
| Bitcoin.com | Computer/mobile | Mac OS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android | Free |
| Exodus | Computer | Mac OS, Windows, Linux | Free |
| Binance | Exchange Platform | – | Free |
| Coinbase | Exchange Platform | – | Free |
| Trust Wallet | Computer/mobile | Chrome extension, iOS, Android | Free |
| FaucetPay | Web Wallet | Web | Free |
A complete list of compatible Bitcoin Cash wallets can be found here.
Bitcoin Cash communities and forums
- r/Bitcoincash: It is a subpage on Reddit dedicated to news and information about Bitcoin Cash and its development.
- Crypto Compare: A page related to Bitcoin Cash on the Crypto Compare website.
