Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain’s hard fork in August 2017 created Bitcoin Cash (BCH). A hard fork is a blockchain splitting into two, each with its cryptocurrency and blockchain.
Disagreements within the BTC community led to the birth of BCH. Some BTC miners and developers questioned its scalability and the blockchain’s plans to adopt segregated witness (SegWit) technology.
A hard fork is a blockchain upgrade where only one of the split chains remains valid. As a result, anyone holding BTC will get the same amount of BCH.
These groups felt that while the upgrade was necessary (the BTC network was struggling to keep up with the increased transaction volume), it went against Satoshi Nakamoto’s decentralized philosophy. As a result, they agreed that increasing the block size limit was the only solution.
So a hard fork was proposed to split the BTC blockchain in two. These would process more transactions than BTC. BCH arose from this.
Roger Ver, dubbed ‘Bitcoin Jesus’, co-created BCH and still promotes it over BTC.
In a 2019 interview with Forbes, he stated that he wants to partner with more well-known brands to bring Bitcoin Cash to real-world commerce. And it’s predicted to surpass BTC’s market cap eventually.
Bitcoin vs. Bitcoin Cash
Concerns about Bitcoin’s scalability led to the creation of BCH. Up to date, the BTC network can only handle 7 TPS, whereas the BCH network can handle many more. It was promoted heavily during the launch. BTC’s block size was limited to 1MB at the time, but BCH’s block size would be 8MB. It is now 32MB.
Because BCH blocks are larger, more computing power is required to mine them, increasing costs. On the other hand, this means more transaction fees for miners. The most distinct discrepancy between the two is the price.
BTC is also treated as a store of value rather than a currency, which causes divisions within the community. Even today, this is understandable. Many media outlets still portray BTC as ‘digital gold’ with a finite supply. Why would you use it to purchase something else if you expect its value to increase in the future? With low fees and fast processing times, its creators expect BCH to overtake BTC as a currency – theoretically.
How to mine BCH
BCH uses the same technology as BTC. The cryptocurrency has a blockchain, which records all transactions. Miners use powerful computers to put new blocks to the blockchain to solve complex mathematical puzzles. The miners are rewarded in cryptocurrency. After a halving in April 2020, the block reward for miners is now 6.25 BCH.
Despite sharing the same technology, the two cryptocurrencies differ fundamentally.
BCH Price Predictions
Prime XBT predicts BCH will hit $3,600 by 2025. Digital Coin Price is less optimistic but still bullish, predicting BCH will hit $1,500 by 2025. Wallet Investor is less confident, expecting that the price of BCH will remain stable at $615 in 2025. Long Forecast is even more pessimistic, predicting a cost of $350 for BCH by 2025.
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