Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
What is Bitcoin Cash?
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a decentralized cryptocurrency that operates on a peer-to-peer electronic cash system. In April of 2017, It was forked from Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s largest cryptocurrency. The catalyst, was the growing concern over the protocol’s future. This change occurred as a community decision after the majority of concerns favored the BCH solution. In Bitcoin, this occurred to the blockchain’s protocol or basic set of rules. In the case of cryptocurrency, this results in a new blockchain. The Bitcoin Cash community set out to create a cryptocurrency that’s better suited than Bitcoin for cheap, every day payments. Bitcoin itself, despite originally being named “Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash” in its whitepaper published in 2009, may not be well-suited for use as cash in everyday purchases due to its fees. Bitcoin Cash attempts to remedy global payment system demands, with a block size of 32MB as of 2023. This block size housing transaction data, is much larger than when compared to Bitcoin’s 1MB block size. This in theory, will serve to reduce load on the Bitcoin blockchain and prevent long transaction times from becoming common.
How does Bitcoin Cash funtion?
Bitcoin Cash operates on a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism, similar to Bitcoin. Miners solve complex computational puzzles to validate transactions and create new blocks. The larger block size of Bitcoin Cash allows for faster transaction processing. Bitcoin Cash also supports smart contracts and ecosystem apps. With a capped total supply on a calendar identical to Bitcoin, it seems the head wags the tail here; although, decoupled in theory. BCH has a limited supply and aims to facilitate common consumer transactions. A larger, more efficient block can reduce transactions cost to less than a tenth of a cent. The best potential use case for Bitcoin Cash, is that of cash. Visa and other debit and credit card providers have taken a liking to Bitcoin Cash, for reasons explained here and surely more we are unaware of. BCH can be used for peer-to-peer payments between individuals and to pay participating merchants for goods and services. Payments can easily occur both in-store and online. The structure of Bitcoin Cash may support micro-transaction economies, such as tipping content creators and rewarding app users a few cents. Bitcoin Cash also seeks to facilitate remittances and cross-border trade. Other potential use cases include simplified smart contracts, and private payments.
What is the history of Bitcoin Cash’s reason for being?
Born as a hard fork of Bitcoin (BTC), aiming to address Bitcoin’s scalability issues and maintain its original vision as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system. Differing concerns within the community arrived at a hard fork, resulting in a new blockchain. A group within the community proposed to increase the block size limit, which led to the creation of a new blockchain and BCH. A larger blockchain is harder to validate and store on thousands of computers around the world, which is the foundation of Bitcoin’s decentralized nature. This ensures that no individual, company, or organization can tamper with Bitcoin’s blockchain at its core. Bitcoin Cash set out its own set of challenges and milestones, including a hard fork in November 2018 that led to the creation of Bitcoin SV (BSV), a separate cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin Cash Coinbase VISA
Bitcoin Cash is the default payment source Coinbase Visa. Coinbase Visa is a debit card that is funded by your Coinbase account balance. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is the default funding cryptocurrency, but other cryptocurrencies can be selected. The card has a rewards system that gives back 0.5% BTC on USD purchases. This allows users to leave funds in Coinbase and use the Visa card for normal USD purchases, while converting advantageously; and then, rewarded in Bitcoin. You can sign up for Coinbase VISA at no fee once you signup for Coinbase.
The official Bitcoin Cash website is a great place to get up to speed on BCH