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Bitcoin Cash

Logo
Denominations
Code	BCH
Precision	10
Subunits
1⁄100000000	satoshi
Development
Original author(s)	Satoshi Nakamoto
Ledger
Ledger start	January 3, 2009 (16 years ago) (2009-01-03)—genesis block January 9, 2009 (16 years ago) (2009-01-09)—block #1 August 1, 2017 (7 years ago) (2017-08-01)—block #478559, the first Bitcoin Cash block
Timestamping scheme	Proof-of-work (partial hash inversion)
Hash function	SHA-256
Block reward	12.5 BCH (approximately to 2020), halved approximately every four years
Block time	10 minutes
Supply limit	21,000,000 BCH
Administration
Issuing authority	Issuance decentralized, block reward
Website
Website	bitcoincash.org

Bitcoin scalability debate led to the cryptocurrency split on August 1, 2017. A chain coming out of the split and setting its block size limit to eight megabytes to increase the number of transactions its ledger can process is called Bitcoin Cash (BCH). The rule change increasing the bitcoin block size limit of one megabyte to eight megabytes is classified as a hard fork.

History

Idea forms

On July 20, 2017 Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 91, aka Segregated Witness, activated.

Some members of the bitcoin community felt that adopting BIP 91 without increasing the block-size limit would simply delay confronting the bitcoin scalability problem and that it favored people who wanted to treat bitcoin as a digital investment rather than as a transactional currency.

The plan to do a hard fork was first announced by Bitmain. The project was originally referred to as UAHF: A contingency plan against UASF (BIP148) by Bitmain on their corporate blog, which the ASIC bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer would launch if BIP 148 (a User Activated Soft Fork) succeeded. Subsequently, developers took interest in the project. The Bitcoin Cash name was originally proposed by Chinese mining pool ViaBTC.

Development

The first implementation of the Bitcoin Cash protocol called Bitcoin ABC was revealed by Amaury "Deadal Nix" Séchet at the Future of Bitcoin conference in Arnhem, Netherlands. The Bitcoin Cash hard fork was announced to take place on August 1, 2017.

Launch

Upon launch, Bitcoin Cash inherited the transaction history of the bitcoin cryptocurrency on that date, but all later transactions were separate. Block 478558 was the last common block and thus the first Bitcoin Cash block was 478559. Bitcoin Cash cryptocurrency wallet started to reject BTC block and BTC transactions since 13:20 UTC, August 1, 2017 because it used a timer to initiate a fork. It implements a block size increase to 8 MB. One exchange started Bitcoin Cash futures trading at 0.5 BTC on July 23; the futures dropped to 0.1 BTC by July 30. Market cap appeared since 23:15 UTC, August 1, 2017.

Move of hashpower and change to difficulty

On August 9, it was 30% more profitable to mine on the original chain. Due to the new Emergency Difficulty Adjustment (EDA) algorithm used by Bitcoin Cash, mining difficulty has fluctuated rapidly, and the most profitable chain to mine has thus switched repeatedly between Bitcoin Cash and mainline bitcoin. As both chains use the same proof-of-work algorithm, miners can easily move their hashpower between the two. As of August 30, 2017 around 1,500 more blocks were mined on the Bitcoin Cash chain than on the original one as the high profitability periods attracted a significant proportion of total processing power.

A fix for these difficulty/hashrate/profitability fluctuations was introduced on November 13, 2:06PM UTC. The EDA algorithm has been replaced with a new difficulty adjustment algorithm (DAA) that hopes to prevent extreme fluctuations in difficulty while still allowing Bitcoin Cash to adapt to hashrate changes faster than mainline bitcoin.

Market acceptance and naming

Cryptocurrency exchanges

Eventually Bitcoin Cash was broadly adopted by digital currency exchanges. Exchanges such as Coinbase, Bitfinex, Bitstamp, CEX.IO, Kraken, ShapeShift and many others use the Bitcoin Cash name and the BCH ticker symbol for the cryptocurrency. Temporarily, Bitstamp and Bitfinex used the name Bcash, but after being criticized, they switched the name back to Bitcoin Cash.

Huobi exchange uses the name Bitcoin Cash and the BCC ticker symbol.

Cryptocurrency wallets

While the alphanumeric address style is the same as mainline bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) should not be sent to a bitcoin (BTC) address. Like mainline bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash addresses can be used more than once, but should not be reused if privacy is a concern. However there are plans to change the address format.

Cryptocurrency wallets such as the Ledger hardware wallet, KeepKey hardware wallet, Electron Cash software wallet, Bitcoin.com software wallet and many others use the name Bitcoin Cash for the cryptocurrency, using either BCH or BCC ticker symbol for it.

Trezor hardware wallet uses both Bitcoin Cash and Bcash cryptocurrency names. Its architect Marek "Slush" Palatinus explained: "The reason we prefer to use 'Bcash' is to protect users from using the wrong wallet by accident."

Supporters

Notable supporters of Bitcoin Cash (both the idea of increasing the block size and the split of the cryptocurrency) include investor Roger Ver.

Tax implications

Americans wondering whether their acquisition of Bitcoin Cash is taxable as income, or not taxable as a division of property, have received no guidance from the Internal Revenue Service.

See also

• List of bitcoin forks
• SHA-256 crypto currencies

References

1. Smith, Jake. "The Bitcoin Cash Hard Fork Will Show Us Which Coin Is Best". Fortune. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
2. Nakamura, Yuri; Kharif, Olga (4 December 2017). "Battle for 'True' Bitcoin Is Just Getting Started". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
3. Nguyen, Jimmy. "All Merchants Want For Christmas Should Be Bitcoin Cash". Huffington Post. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
4. Nakamura, Yuri; Kharif, Olga (4 December 2017). "Battle for 'True' Bitcoin Is Just Getting Started". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
5. Tepper, Fitz (2 August 2017). "WTF is bitcoin cash and is it worth anything?". TechCrunch.
6. Crosbie, Jack (July 26, 2017). "When Will Bitcoin Fork, and What's It Mean for Crypto's Future? A fork could change the equation for thousands of bitcoin users". Inverse. Retrieved July 29, 2017. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
7. Aaron van Wirdum (July 20, 2017). "BIP 91 Has Locked In. Here's What That Means (and What It Does Not)". Bitcoin Magazine. Retrieved July 29, 2017. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
8. Hertig, Alyssa (July 21, 2017). "BIP 91 Locks In: What This Means for Bitcoin and Why It's Not Scaled Yet". CoinDesk. Retrieved July 29, 2017.
9. ^ Popper, Nathaniel (2017-07-25). "Some Bitcoin Backers Are Defecting to Create a Rival Currency". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-07-28.
10. ^ Wong, Joon Ian. "There's a strange new twist in bitcoin's "civil war"—and a way to bet on the outcome". Quartz. Retrieved 2017-07-28.
11. admin (14 June 2017). "UAHF: A contingency plan against UASF (BIP148)". Bitmain Corporate Blog.
12. ^ van Wirdum, Aaron (27 July 2017). "The Future of "Bitcoin Cash:" An Interview with Bitcoin ABC lead developer Amaury Séchet". Bitcoin Magazine.
13. ^ van Wirdum, Aaron (7 August 2017). "Bitcoin Cash or Bcash: What's in a Name?". BitcoinMagazine.
14. "Fork Watch: Block 478558 Initiates 'Bitcoin Cash' Split – First Blocks Now Mined - Bitcoin News". 1 August 2017.
15. "Bitcoin Cash (BCH) price, charts, market cap, and other metrics - CoinMarketCap". coinmarketcap.com.
16. "Coin Dance - Bitcoin Cash Block Details". 8 August 2017. Archived from the original on 8 August 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
17. "Technical specifications". 12 November 2017 – via GitHub.
18. "fork.lol". fork.lol.
19. "fork.lol". fork.lol.
20. "fork.lol". fork.lol.
21. "Bitcoin ABC - Home". Bitcoin ABC - Home.
22. "Coinbase - Buy/Sell Digital Currency". coinbase.com. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
23. "Bitfinex". bitfinex.com. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
24. "Bitstamp". bitstamp.net. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
25. "CEX.IO blog". cex.io. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
26. KrakenFX. "Bitcoin Cash and a Critical Alert for Bitcoin Margin Traders". kraken.com. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
27. Young, Joseph (6 December 2017). "Bitstamp Criticized For Listing Bitcoin Cash as Bcash, Despite Community Outrage". CoinTelegraph.
28. "Statement about Huobi's attitude to BTC and Bitcoin Cash". huobi.com. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
29. "linuxfoundation.org". linuxfoundation.org.
30. "Cryptocurrencies". ledgerwallet.com. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
31. "Bitcoin Cash Update 8/29/17". keepkey.com. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
32. "Electron Cash". electroncash.org. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
33. "Get a Free Wallet". bitcoin.com. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
34. "Which coins are currently supported?". satoshilabs.com. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
35. Saunders, Laura (25 August 2017). "No One Knows How Much to Pay in Bitcoin Cash Taxes". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 25 August 2017.

External links

• Official website

• Currencies without ISO 4217 code
• Bitcoin clients
• Bitcoin
• Cryptocurrencies