Bitcoin Cash: what it is, how it works and what is the price of BCH

What is Bitcoin Cash (BCH)?

Bitcoin Cash is a fork of the original Bitcoin blockchain, carried out in 2017. These forks are updates to the original code carried out by the cryptocurrency community itself in which it happens. We know as BCH the cryptocurrency used within this new network.

History of Bitcoin Cash

This fork occurred on August 1, 2017, after a long discussion about how to make the Bitcoin network more scalable. Since its inception in 2009, the community knew that at some point the network would need to be able to process more transactions per second than the 8 originally set by Satoshi Nakamoto when he created it. This became a necessity for logical reasons: the more adoption, the more people use the network and make transactions slower and with higher commissions. This finally happened in 2016, with transactions taking days or even never going through, so a solution to this problem was sought.

A year later, within the community there were two main factions: one proposed to increase the size of the blocks of the network and another one that proposed to improve the time of the transactions without the need to do so. Finally, what happened was that a hard fork took place that gave rise to the birth of Bitcoin Cash.

Characteristics of BCH

This new network has characteristics that are very similar to the original Bitcoin network because it was born based on it. We are going to review what these characteristics are and what each of them is about.

Bitcoin Cash

Mining BCH mining is exactly the same as BTC mining. The consensus protocol known as Proof of Work or Proof of Work (PoW) and the same hash, called SHA-256, are used. This new network has a lower mining power, so the difficulty to do it is less and you can use the same hardware that is used to mine BTC, with some slight modifications. It is worth mentioning that, although initially this difficulty was low, in 2018 it became very expensive for the rewards obtained, so the difficulty was adjusted in order to maintain a certain level of earnings. Despite the efforts, BCH mining does not leave great profits, mainly due to low commissions.

Block Size

Originally, the Bitcoin Cash block size was 8MB, 8 times larger than the original Bitcoin network. This allowed up to 20,000 transactions per second to be processed, a situation that was modified in 2018 and was able to process up to 40,000 transactions per second thanks to a change in the maximum block size, becoming 32MB.

Although these numbers are very different from those of Bitcoin, this network is much less used and the full capacity of the blocks is not used.

0-conf transactions

This is one of the main features of the network. It allows to accept 0-conf transactions, transactions that are taken as done without having any confirmation in the blockchain. Although it can be considered an advantage, it is important to note that it brings with it a negative aspect: double spending. Given the situation, the network allows miners to control that the same coins are not used to carry out more than one transaction through the use of identifiers managed by them.

How does Bitcoin Cash work?

Both the Bitcoin Cash blockchain and the original Bitcoin blockchain work the same way. The blocks are generated every 10 minutes and their emission is not unlimited, but there will be 21,000,000 units. In addition, halving is also used to control this emission: every 210,000 blocks, every 4 years, the emission and the rewards for the miners are reduced by half.

Advantages and disadvantages of the BCH cryptocurrency

Being a product of a fork, Bitcoin Cash arises as a response to the problem of Bitcoin scalability. We invite you to review the advantages and disadvantages of this recent cryptocurrency so that you know it thoroughly before investing.

Advantages of Bitcoin Cash

• Scalability: it is greater than that of Bitcoin and can confirm transactions in seconds.
• Security: the different network algorithms created by its developers guarantee the security of transactions.
• Low Fees: Fees are considerably less than Bitcoin and allow money to be sent worldwide.

Bitcoin Cash Disadvantages

• Low yield mining: miners receive few rewards due to low network fees.
• Developer fights: Your developers keep fighting each other, which can lower your reputation.

Bitcoin vs Bitcoin Cash: What are the main differences?

• Logo and ticker: Bitcoin Cash uses the Bitcoin symbol in green. Its ticker, on the other hand, is BCH although it was originally BCC.
• Commissions: they are much cheaper than Bitcoin, but the use of the network is much lower.
• Difficulty adjustment: Bitcoin Cash allows you to modify it every 24 hours, while Bitcoin does it every two weeks.
• Scalability: the decision was to increase the size of the blocks to 8MB, 8 times more than Bitcoin.

What will be the future of Bitcoin Cash?

According to its developers, the main objective is to be used around the world thanks to its fast and almost free transactions. In addition, they seek to provide the possibility of creating tokens within their own blockchain. To do so, several updates will take place every 6 months that will seek to make Bitcoin Cash perfect.

Although they have managed to establish themselves as an alternative to Bitcoin thanks to their scalability, reality shows that the network is very little used and the blocks generated do not usually reach 1MB, and their maximum capacity is much higher.

We must say that it is still early to give a final verdict, since we are talking about a network and a cryptocurrency accepted in the ecosystem and its improvements could accelerate adoption and exponentially increase its use in the coming years.

Bitcoin Cash Argentina - Frequently Asked Questions

How to get Bitcoin Cash?

To get BCH, create your Satoshi Tango account in minutes and invest in this cryptocurrency and many more quickly, easily and safely.

What is a Bitcoin Cash worth?

The value of BCH is determined by supply and demand in the market. Enter our platform to know its price in real time.

How long does a Bitcoin Cash transfer take?

Transfers using the Bitcoin Cash network can take a few minutes, although it is still faster than a transfer on the Bitcoin network.

Who created Bitcoin Cash?

The network is the product of a hard fork, so it is the product of the Bitcoin community itself.

How many Satoshis is 1 Bitcoin Cash?

The price of both cryptocurrencies is constantly changing, so it is not possible to give an accurate answer to the question. Ideally, use a calculator to perform the comparison in real time.

How many BCH are there?

BCH issuance is limited to 21,000,000 coins. Currently, there are around 19,033,000,000 units, which represents approximately 91% of the total issue.