What Is Bitcoin Cash? How Does BCH Work?

Image of a person holding a smartphone in front of a laptop. On the screen is a blue background with a white circle and the Bitcoin Cash logo on it. The screen reads Bitcoin Cash buy or sell

If you tried to look up how to buy Bitcoin with cash online, you may have also asked “What is Bitcoin Cash?” as the search box suggested it as a similar search. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a cryptocurrency, just like Bitcoin, and in fact it came from the Bitcoin network in 2017. Although Bitcoin Cash is similar to its ancestor Bitcoin, it has distinctive and unique traits that we will focus on. We’ll explore is what is Bitcoin Cash’s way of work. BCH was designed as a transactional cryptocurrency for an electronic cash payment system. This cryptocurrency has been developed to be easily scalable, so that it can be considered a circulating currency, rather than a store of value in the investors’ wallets.

If you want to learn more about the so-called Bitcoin’s little brother, continue reading this article about what is Bitcoin Cash and how it works.

What Is Bitcoin Cash?

Bitcoin Cash emerged as a fork from the original Bitcoin blockchain in 2017. BCH has maintained a technical structure very similar to BTC, with a change that makes it unique: the size of the data block of the chain. By increasing the capacity of the block, the developers of BCH wanted to increase the computing power for faster transaction processing, while also improving the scalability of the coin. That was the reason why the cryptocurrency was created – to fulfill the initial promises of Bitcoin.

Soon after BCH was created, it forked itself and split into Bitcoin Cash ABC (BCHA) and Bitcoin Cash SV (Satoshi Vision).

As mentioned, what is Bitcoin Cash’s reason to be created was the need to reduce transaction processing times on the Bitcoin blockchain. The idea was started by miners in charge of mining cryptocurrencies and by developers, with the aim of creating blocks capable of storing 8 MB each, processing an average of 116 transactions per second. A big step up from 7 transactions per second that can be processed by the Bitcoin blockchain and that extend the final outcome times immeasurably, extended up to 10 minutes. Yet the result achieved by Bitcoin Cash is still far from the speed of the credit card network of the traditional banking circuit: the VISA network, for example, processes an average of about 1,700 transactions per second, having an overall capacity of 65,000 transaction inputs per second.

What is Bitcoin Cash’s goal is to reach 100MB of storage per block, and so far has come to 32MB. This hypothesis is generating some doubts among the ‘purists’ of decentralization of the network: larger blocks require more computing power than the individual nodes of the blockchain. Naturally, only large organizations and companies could have enough resources to bear the costs of such a structured blockchain and this could lead to a risk of an oligopoly of nodes. For individuals, on the contrary, it would be almost impossible to participate in the network and this could jeopardize both decentralization and security: more nodes equate to greater unassailability of the network.

Screenshot of the Bitcoin Cash website

What Is Bitcoin Cash’s Way of Work?

On paper what is Bitcon Cash’s goal looks very promising. This cryptocurrency wants to be the electronic money Satoshi Nakamoto aimed for with Bitcoin but with better network. However, is it really the case? Does the increase in the storage capacity of the block, in addition to reducing transaction times and lowering management costs, allow a retail purchase with BCH? In the idea of ​​the developers yes: the use of this cryptocurrency should be an alternative to fiat money, so as to allow the purchase of a meal at a restaurant using Bitcoin Cash in the very near future.

In reality, however, the places that use any cryptocurrency are still not as popular, relegating digital currencies to a niche market. But when the diffusion will be wider, thanks to greater awareness on the part of users and technological innovations, many are ready to bet that BCH will be able to gain important shares in the cryptocurrency payments market .

What Is Bitcoin Cash’s Biggest Difference From Bitcoin?

The BCH and BTC are both cryptocurrencies, coming from the same network. However, they differ in a few places. Let’s go over what is Bitcoin Cash’s biggest difference from the king crypto.

  • Price: The Bitcoin Cash price hasn’t managed to reach the Bitcoin price just yet, in fact it’s been trading below the high price it reached when it hit the market.
  • Philosophy: What is Bitcoin Cash’s philosophy was once Bitcoin’s – to become a fiat alternative and more accessible money for the public. Except Bitcoin quickly became more accessible for the investors with bigger capital so BCH came to serve its purpose. Otherwise both coins have the same limited supply of 21 million, meaning they are relatively scarcer than many altcoins.
  • Blocks: The size of the blocks of the BCH blockchain are larger (up to 32 MB) than those of BTC (limited to 1 MB), a factor that allows the completion of transactions within a single block and which helps to make the same transactions faster to complete and cheaper to sustain.

When you look at the things we mentioned here, you may think BCH is one of those kids that asked BTC to copy its homework, the first crypto agreed but only if BCH changes it a bit and that’s how what is Bitcoin Cash’s current goals emerged. But putting all jokes aside, the Bitcoin community that created Bitcoin Cash does seem like a group who wanted to find a way to use digital currencies as fiat alternative everywhere. What is Bitcoin Cash’s current status for that? Yes, sadly for the enthusiasts just like Bitcoin, BCH isn’t used that widely as fiat money. But the adoption of cryptocurrency is indeed growing so we may expect both assets from the network to be accepted more widely in the future.

What Is Bitcoin Cash Going to Be Used for in the Future?

So what is Bitcoin Cash? It’s not a typo in the search engine for when you’re looking for buy Bitcoin with cash or for Bitcoin. Though you may be suggested Did you mean Bitcoin? when you look for Bitcoin Cash.

Bitcoin Cash is a fork of Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency that emerged from the first crypto’s network in 2017. It works the exact same way as Bitcoin, you mine it, though it has increased the size of its blocks so more transactions can be held on it. This was made so the network is faster, however, people have expressed concerns that it will be even less sustainable than BTC. What this means is that Bitcoin Cash may end up requiring more energy than the first crypto, which is already blamed for wasting too much, and if that happens, only institutions and richer people will be able to mine BCH. In its turn, that will undermine the accessibility, what is Bitcoin Cash’s goal – to be accessible to the mass for a fiat alternative.

Bitcoin Cash was created to be used as electronic money by everyone, the reason why Bitcoin was created but hasn’t quite succeeded yet. So far it doesn’t seem like Bitcoin Cash, or any other digital asset, has managed to replace fiat currencies yet. Though it’s worth to mention that cryptocurrencies are indeed managing to establish themselves in our lives. They have managed to solve issues for unemployment by creating new job spots and even succeeded to be accepted for big purchases, as today you can buy a car with crypto.

If the adoption of cryptocurrencies continues, the assets that promise what is Bitcoin Cash promising – to be electronic money and fiat alternative, may be used more widely. This can potentially push the adoption of BCH, as well as its price. The community of this project is certainly relying on such a positive outcome in the future.

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