What is Bitcoin Cash Bitcoin Cash ($BCH)

Bitcoin Cash is a blockchain network based on the PoW consensus mechanism, and **$BCH ** is the native token of this network. **$BCH ** can be used for various purposes, including peer-to-peer transactions, online purchases, investments, and value storage.

In 2017, the Bitcoin Cash network split from the Bitcoin (BTC) network, becoming a variant of Bitcoin, known as a “hard fork.”

A fork essentially represents a split in the blockchain network/community. When the original rules of a blockchain network are intentionally or unintentionally changed, a fork occurs. In the case of a hard fork, the previous version and the new version are completely separated, with no communication or transaction options between them.

This hard fork was driven by disagreements within the Bitcoin community regarding issues such as scalability and transaction speed of the original Bitcoin network. Unlike the original BTC community, which aims to resist censorship and minimize trust, supporters of BCH prioritize “building a peer-to-peer electronic cash system” as their core principle, aiming to achieve faster and cheaper transactions by increasing transaction throughput and reducing transaction fees.

Specifically, in Bitcoin’s initial design, each block size was 1MB. As Bitcoin became more widely used, the 1MB block size became quite restrictive when processing large volumes of transactions, leading to high latency and high transaction fees across the network.

The solution proposed by the BCH network was to increase the block size from 1MB to 8MB to allow the network to handle more transactions (since May 2018, BCH’s block size limit was further increased to 32MB). From this perspective, **$BCH ** is indeed a faster, more efficient, and more suitable version of Bitcoin for everyday use. Therefore, the BCH community believes that **$BCH ** better aligns with Satoshi Nakamoto’s original intent.

Satoshi Nakamoto’s “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”

Since it forked from the Bitcoin network, the BCH network shares many similarities with the BTC network. For example, both use PoW consensus; both are decentralized networks where anyone can participate and contribute; both aim for a block time of 10 minutes; both have a maximum supply of 21 million coins; and every 210,000 blocks (roughly four years), the system halves the token issuance.

Why does the issuance halve every four years? What does this mean for the entire network? Please refer to the entry: What is Bitcoin Halving

In November 2018, the BCH network itself was also split into two chains. This split was caused by the development team behind BCH being unable to reach consensus on a network upgrade. In August 2018, Bitcoin ABC, endorsed by Bitmain, proposed a consensus update to expand BCH’s functionality and lay the groundwork for supporting smart contracts in the future. The developer team also included nChain, which rejected this update, calling it “a betrayal of Satoshi Nakamoto and the P2P electronic cash system.” Due to this community split, the BCH network was ultimately forked into BCH (also called BCHABC, led by Bitcoin ABC) and Bitcoin SV (BSV, where “SV” stands for “Satoshi’s Version”).

It is worth noting that Craig Wright, the founder of nChain, has repeatedly claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, although he has yet to provide conclusive proof. **$BTC **$ETH **$BCH **