Hi there! I am now in the last part of my article about BCH. In the first part, I discussed what is Bitcoin Cash, the hard fork, and the soft fork. Na don the second part, I discussed two camps( Big blocker and Small blocker), and how Bitcoin Cash was created.
Now, you understand why it's so hard to get any change to the Bitcoin protocol approved. You basically need to get all of these groups to agree. Throughout Bitcoin's history, there have been several cases where such agreements were reached, but as the network grew larger it became harder to reach a consensus.
Going back to our history in 2017, the end result of this Mexican standoff between the two camps was that each side did what they initially intended to do. Leaving it to users to decide which coin to adopt as the true Bitcoin.
On August 1st, 2017, Small blockers activated Segwit on the original Bitcoin protocol while big blockers created Bitcoin Cash, a Bitcoin fork with an 8mb block size. Initially, it was unclear which version of Bitcoin would win, when "Winning" in cryptocurrency terms means having a longer blockchain, or ledger of transactions. The more miners a coin has onboard means more computational power, hence a longer blockchain and a more robust network.
Bitcoin cash had support from mining giant Bitmain, and as a result, the original Bitcoin's hashing power was cut nearly in half when the fork occurred. However, when the dust settled it became clear that the original Bitcoin was still standing strong even after the fork.
Since the fork, Bitcoin Cash has consistently maintained its space at the top of the cryptocurrency charts. The coin is backed mainly by Roger Ver, a Libertarian that allegedly owns around 100,000 Bitcoins making him one of the first Bitcoin billionaires. Ver also purchased the domain Bitcoin.com, to promote Bitcoin Cash, as opposed to Bitcoin.org, which is the website for the original Bitcoin.
BCH vs. BTC
Bitcoin Cash is mostly similar to Bitcoin, but with some exceptions:
Bigger block size
When it first started out, Bitcoin cash's block size was capped at 8mb. later on, the coin went through another update and its block size limit increased to 32mb. In practice, Bitcoin Cash isn't popular as Bitcoin and its blocks rarely surpass 1mb of transactions.
No Segwit and Lightning Network
Bitcoin Cash adjusts its mining difficulty for mining new blocks more quickly than the original Bitcoin.
I won't go into details but it's claimed that miners can actually manipulate this feature to create questionable advantages. While there are additional differences between the two coins, the ones I've just mentioned are the ones that are most notable.
In November 2018, Bitcoin cash went through its own hard fork. This time the two camps were the original Bitcoin Cash, also known as ABC, and Bitcoin SV, which stands for Satoshi's Vision.
Bitcoins ABC's camp was led by Roger Ver and Bitmain. While the Bitcoin SV camp was led by Craig Wright, a person who claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto but never supplied ample proof, and Calvin Ayre, the owner of the largest Bitcoin Cash mining pool, Coingeek.
There are two main differences between the two Bitcoin Cash versions. Bitcoin ABC maintained a maximum block size of 32mb, while Bitcoin SV increased its block size to 128mb with additional increases planned in future updates.
Additionally, Bitcoin ABC added smart contract-like functionality into its code while Bitcoin SV chose not to accept this change. For now, it seems that Bitcoin ABC has become more popular and is considered by most as the "true" Bitcoin Cash.
Closing Thoughts
I'd like to leave you with some food for thought. Sometimes the obvious solution to a problem is not necessarily the best one. Low transaction fees are important to the usability of Bitcoin, but not at all costs, and a quick fix often has unforeseen consequences.
I mean just imagine what life would be like if instead of investing in and developing file compression technologies, we would simply have to buy additional hard drives just to save all of our uncompressed documents, photos, videos, and projects to our computers.
How much longer would it take to transmit those files along with the internet to our friends, family, colleagues, or clients?
Keeping this in mind, it would seem as though optimizing data within small blocks while maintaining decentralization will pay off in the long run. Adding to the block size might prove necessary, but it should be used sparingly.
For now, the Bitcoin Cash hard fork saga stands as a testament to the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network. It demonstrated how unbiased the system is, and how no single party can dictate what will happen even when very powerful interest groups are involved.
Bitcoin Cash- a hard fork of a Bitcoin protocol that created a new coin with a larger block size