The History:
Bitcoin Cash $BCH emerged as a result of the intense political turmoil within the Bitcoin community that spanned from 2010 to 2017. During this period, a group led by Haipo Yang, representing an economic minority, initiated the Bitcoin Cash fork on block height 478559. This event marked the inception of a new blockchain with a permanent rule change that made it incompatible with the original Bitcoin network. The Chains split and bitcoin continued unchained and bitcoin cash continued the bitcoin chain but with the changed made! many miners behind the fork moved over from bitcoin to maintain the bitcoin cash network
Bitcoin Cash is engineered to function as an affordable payment system, similar to Bitcoin’s original intent. Transaction fees typically amount to less than one cent, and transaction confirmations are notably quicker than those of Bitcoin, often taking just seconds.
Bitcoin maximalists often assert that Bitcoin Cash is merely an inferior imitation of Bitcoin. This perspective is rooted in specific aspects they find objectionable. Bitcoin Cash initially altered the block size parameter as its primary modification and chose not to incorporate the SegWit softfork, which further fuelled this criticism. Additionally, some individuals have argued that Bitcoin Cash should be considered the true successor to Bitcoin, exacerbating the controversy. The fact that Bitcoin Cash may have served as an inspiration for various other spin-off cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin Gold and Litecoin Cash, has also contributed to its tarnished reputation.
What is bitcoin cash:
Bitcoin Cash according to their own website: ‘Bitcoin Cash brings sound money to the world, fulfilling the original promise of Bitcoin as “Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash”. Merchants and users are empowered with low fees and reliable confirmations. The future shines brightly with unrestricted growth, global adoption, permissionless innovation, and decentralized development’
Some differences between the two blockchains:
Bitcoin Cash aimed to address the ‘issues’ with bitcoin by enlarging block sizes, expanding them from 8 MB to 32 MB, thus facilitating the processing of a higher volume of transactions within each block. At the time of proposing Bitcoin Cash, the average number of transactions per block on Bitcoin ranged from 1,000 to 1,500.
Another distinguishing feature of Bitcoin Cash, setting it apart from Bitcoin, is its exclusion of Segregated Witness (SegWit), an alternative solution proposed to increase transaction capacity. SegWit exclusively retains transaction metadata in a block, while traditionally, all transaction details are stored within a block.
The supply of bitcoin cash:
The maximum supply of Bitcoin Cash will always remain capped at 21 million coins. New coins are introduced into the circulating supply at a diminishing pace, following a predetermined timetable that reduces the issuance rate by half approximately every four years. Bitcoin cash is slightly closer to its 21 million supply cap 19,499,475 of their supply released and for Bitcoin only 19,480,681 of the supply has been mined.
Roger Ver aka ‘Bitcoin Jesus’
One of the biggest backers of bitcoin cash is Roger Ver. in early 2011, he stumbled upon Bitcoin, hailing it as “one of the most significant innovations in human history.”
During the nascent stages of Bitcoin when its value was less than $1 per coin, Ver purportedly accumulated over 400,000 bitcoins.
Ver’s financial backing played a pivotal role in supporting various noteworthy Bitcoin projects and startup initiatives. He served as an early investor in BitInstant, a now-defunct company.
Furthermore, Ver displayed early investment acumen in numerous blockchain-related ventures, including Kraken, purse.io, Blockchain.com, and Ripple. In 2012, he introduced Bitcoinstore.com, a platform offering an extensive array of products available for purchase, with customers having the option to transact in Bitcoin.
According to Roger Ver, Bitcoin Cash offers greater utility compared to Bitcoin. Ver contends that Bitcoin Cash presents a more practical option. For Ver, the ongoing debate between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash centres on functionality. He asserts that if another cryptocurrency were to demonstrate superior performance to Bitcoin Cash, he would be open to switching. However, in his view, Bitcoin Cash currently stands as the most efficient and user-friendly cryptocurrency.
In contrast, Bitcoin faces usability challenges due to transaction difficulties and high fees. The user experience with Bitcoin has deteriorated over time, and its popularity largely rests on its brand recognition, a phenomenon similar to what Nomad Capitalist often discusses in relation to countries. Ver’s perspective is that a cryptocurrency must be usable as cash to also serve as a long-term store of value.
In contrast, Bitcoin Cash functions as a practical currency. Ver even highlights that he was able to send money to Michael Saylor in Bitcoin Cash via Twitter without incurring substantial fees or enduring extended waiting times for the transaction to complete.
Despite his previous association as the “Bitcoin Jesus,” Ver distanced himself from Bitcoin in 2017 when transaction fees became exorbitant. At that time, a $5 Bitcoin transaction incurred a $10 fee, rendering Bitcoin essentially unusable. He draws a parallel between using Bitcoin and attempting to use ice cubes as currency, as it melts away due to high fees.
Conclusion:
Is Bitcoin cash just Bitcoin? This is the real argument here, as the answer would directly impact its implied value! both bitcoin cash and the bitcoin chain where the same chain under ‘just bitcoin’ until block height 478559, where the fork took place and bitcoin cash was born. right now they are two separate chains completely, validated by a majority different set of validators. So in that sense bitcoin cash is not bitcoin as it originally was and is not the same chain now as bitcoin number 1. However does this mean due to the changes that it is not valuable and bitcoin is, well that in the eyes of the public and their beliefs, that will be the ultimate decider, bitcoin cash is certainly more useable as a peer 2 peer system due to its price and speed.. There is definitely a case to be made for bitcoin cash but is it one that you would side with?? your views will decide.
