On November 15th 2020, a year's worth of heated debate came to an end when Bitcoin Cash experienced a chain split during its scheduled hard fork upgrade. The split occurred between those supporting the Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN) and Bitcoin ABC protocol implementations, who had contradicting positions on how Bitcoin Cash infrastructure should be funded.
Through Nakamoto Consensus it was overwhelmingly decided by miners that Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN) would retain the BCH ticker and become the new reference client for Bitcoin Cash, where infrastructure will continue to be funded on a purely voluntary basis. Bitcoin ABC, the previous reference implementation, now has their own blockchain where they will fund infrastructure development with a percentage of the block reward. A positive outcome of this split was that there was no hash war as we saw with BSV. Each side has gone their own way amicably, due to the ABC team embracing being the minority chain and therefore having to establish a new brand for their coin. Holders of BCH prior to November 15 now have the benefit of holding both coins and seeing which ultimately has what it takes to succeed in the long run. Personally, I see no reason to sell either coin and will be holding on to both.
I would like to congratulate the Bitcoin Cash Node team members and their supporters for running a successful campaign. You were effective in your messaging from the beginning right through to the end. The passion exhibited by the Bitcoin Cash Node side was admirable and it really showed just how much some supporters care for Bitcoin Cash itself. Now, the future of Bitcoin Cash is in your hands. You have been entrusted as stewards of the project and must now lead the community in our shared mission to become peer-to-peer electronic cash for the world. I would also like to wish the ABC team good luck with their new coin; I’m sure they’ll be able to make something out of it, just as they did with Bitcoin Cash in 2017. And for that, we owe them our eternal gratitude.
As for myself, I stated many months ago that I would follow and support whoever retains the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) branding in the event of a split. The reason being that I have heavily invested myself in the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) brand and from a technical perspective both blockchains are practically the same - they both function as electronic cash. Despite me believing that ABC had a better plan for Bitcoin Cash, I have accepted the outcome of the hard fork and will support the Bitcoin Cash Node team and their leadership. I can still see a path to massively ramping up development and adoption, to become electronic cash for the world, without the IFP and without relying on donations. You can be sure that I remain committed to achieving those goals.
Now it’s time to get back to work and refocus our efforts on what matters. While we were looking inwards, we have paid little attention to the rapid debasement of fiat currencies. The supply of U.S. dollars increased by over 24% this year and businesses are looking for alternatives. Unfortunately BTC is better positioned than BCH to take in new users from the collapse of fiat, despite it being totally unsuitable for a payments role. Bitcoin Cash has the best value proposition for the world as an alternative to fiat and our greatest adoption opportunity to date has presented itself. I am now calling on all Bitcoin Cash supporters to massively ramp up efforts in supporting continued expansion of merchant and user adoption. To those that fought so valiantly for BCHN, you must transfer your energy and momentum toward a new global adoption campaign. If supporters of BCHN demonstrate the same level of commitment with spreading Bitcoin Cash adoption as they did fighting back against ABC, we can make some significant strides toward our shared goal of becoming P2P electronic cash for the world.
Thank you for this video.
Some corrections:
The portraying of the 15th as having "those supporting the Bitcoin Cash Node" is something I reject, and most industry players with me. There was simple the people that work in Bitcoin Cash which rallied against the IFP. Everyone together to stand strong. Not behind BCHN, but behind the beliefs that make up BCH, which is much larger than one node implementation.
The BCH/BSV split did not include a hashwar. One side said they wanted to do so, but at the very first block after the scheduled upgrade both became incompatible with each other. Any hash thrown at it was irrelevant for the chain, no reorgs were possible within 10 blocks.
The point you make where you write:
This is a misunderstanding of a decentralized coin. There are no stewards, there are only selfish actors working in their best interest. There is no centralized control, as we have clearly seen that anyone that may be perceived to be the central control can lose it very quickly as soon as they turn against their people. The people are ultimately in control, not some stewards.
If you will, the split was not between to nodes, it was between one team and their belief they were leaders. And on the other side were the people that actually make the coin that did not recognize that leadership.
So when you say later in the video that BCHN is the new leadership, you have misunderstood and have not read the BCHN statements as they are expressly distancing themselves from being "leadership".
The closing message of people focusing on adoption: loud and clear, and fully agreed.
Thank you Hayden!