What Is Bitcoin Cash? A Complete Guide

What is Bitcoin Cash (BCH)? Have you ever wondered the history between Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin? What are the key differences between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash? Is BCH safe to invest in? This article will provide you a complete guide.

WHAT IS BITCOIN CASH? A BRIEF HISTORY

Bitcoin Cash, or BCH, is a cryptocurrency first created in August 2017, from a fork of Bitcoin. The fork from the pre-2017 Bitcoin resulted in two cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin Core (now known as Bitcoin) and Bitcoin Cash. It didn’t just end there. In 2018, Bitcoin Cash went through another fork. This time, it was split into Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV. Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV then had a fight over the rights to the name ‘Bitcoin Cash’ and Bitcoin ABC emerged victorious. So in 2020, when people refer to the term Bitcoin Cash, they are referring to Bitcoin ABC which is a forked version from the original Bitcoin Cash, which is in turn forked from the original Bitcoin. How confusing!

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BITCOIN AND BITCOIN CASH

When Satoshi Nakamoto first created Bitcoin, it was meant to be a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that was to be used for daily transactions. As Bitcoin gained mainstream traction and its price surged, it became an investment vehicle instead of a currency. This is because the Bitcoin blockchain experienced scalability issues.

The scalability issues that Bitcoin faces are mostly due to the block size limitation for Bitcoin. As more and more users are broadcasting transactions, they are competing for the limited 1MB block size every 10 minutes. This is not even close to being sufficient when Bitcoin transactions are gaining popularity, let alone when it becomes a global, borderless currency. To put things in perspective, Bitcoin is capable of processing a mere 7 transactions per second. In contrast, the Visa credit card scheme is capable of processing up to 65,000 transactions per second!

To combat this issue, Bitcoin Cash proposes a solution by increasing block sizes to between 8MB and 32MB, which allows the processing of more transactions per block. This has the effect of Bitcoin Cash capable of processing up to 10 times more transactions compared to Bitcoin.

IS BCH SAFE TO INVEST IN?

Advocates of BCH see it as a medium of exchange more than a store of value. As such, in 2020, BCH did not receive as much mainstream attention as Bitcoin. This is because when there are a lot of money being printed (as is the case in 2020 due to COVID19), investors tend to flock to store of value assets such as gold and Bitcoin.

Having said that, BCH is one of the more reputable cryptocurrencies. It is forked from the original Bitcoin after all! It also has a lot of popularity within certain communities, such as in the Australian city of Townsville. The reason for its popularity is due to its faster transaction speed, which makes it easier for merchants to accept as a form of payment. BCH is more reflective of Satoshi’s original vision for Bitcoin, although many would argue its current price does not reflect its value just yet.

LOOKING TO BUY BITCOIN CASH WITH AUD?

Look no further, Coinstash is one of the few Australian platforms that allows its users to buy BCH with AUD. We have deep liquidity into USD markets, therefore the ability to provide our users with some of the best prices available.