Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
Jump to content

Bitcoin Cash

Page extended-protected
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Bitcoin cash)

Bitcoin Cash
Denominations
CodeBCH[1]
Precision10−8
Development
Implementation(s)Bitcoin Cash Node ("BCHN")
Bitcoin Unlimited ("BU")
Bitcoin Verde ("Verde")
K•th
BCHD
Latest releaseBCHN: 27.1.0 / July 10, 2024[2]
Project fork ofbitcoin
Written inBCHN: C++
BU: C++
Verde: Java
K•th: C++
BCHD: Go
LicenseBCHN: MIT[3]
BU: MIT[4]
Verde: MIT[5]
K•th: MIT[6]
BCHD: ISC[7]
Ledger
Ledger start3 January 2009 (15 years ago) (2009-01-03)[8]
Split height#478559 / 1 August 2017 (7 years ago) (2017-08-01)
Split frombitcoin
Split ratio1:1
Timestamping schemeProof-of-work (partial hash inversion)
Hash functionSHA-256
Issuance scheduleBlock reward halved every 210,000 blocks
Block rewardBCH 3.125[a]
Block time10 minutes
Block explorerblockchair.com/bitcoin-cash/blocks
Circulating supply19,767,947[b]
Supply limit21,000,000[c]
Website
Websitebitcoincash.org[citation needed]
  1. ^ As of August 2024; halves approximately every four years.
  2. ^ As of September 2024
  3. ^ The supply will approach, but never reach, BCH 21 million. Issuance will permanently halt around 2140 at BCH 20,999,999.9769.

Bitcoin Cash (also referred to as Bcash) is a cryptocurrency that is a fork of bitcoin. Launched in 2017, Bitcoin Cash is considered an altcoin or spin-off of bitcoin.[9][10][11] In November 2018, Bitcoin Cash further split into two separate cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV).[12]

History

Since its inception, bitcoin users maintained a common set of rules for the cryptocurrency.[13] On 21 July 2017, bitcoin miners implemented a software upgrade known as Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 91, which activated the Segregated Witness (SegWit) upgrade at block 477,120. SegWit was a contentious update as it enabled second-layer solutions on bitcoin, such as the Lightning Network.[14]

A group of bitcoin activists,[15] developers,[13] and China-based miners opposed the proposed SegWit upgrades designed to increase bitcoin's capacity; these stakeholders pushed forward alternative plans which would increase the block size limit to eight megabytes through a hard fork.[16][13][17] Supporters of a block size increase were more committed to an on-chain medium of exchange function.[14]

In June 2017, hardware manufacturer Bitmain described a proposed hard fork with an increased block size as a "contingency plan" in case the bitcoin community chose to implement SegWit. The same month, the first software implementation was introduced under the name Bitcoin ABC during a conference. In July 2017, the mining pool ViaBTC suggested the name Bitcoin Cash for the fork. Additionally, Roger Ver and other expressed that adopting BIP 91 (which was intended to activate SegWit) appeared to benefit those who viewed bitcoin primarily as a digital investment rather than as means of everyday transactions.[13][17]

The Bitcoin Cash fork occurred on 1 August 2017, at block 478,559.[18] Up to the previous block (478,558), the bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash blockchains were identical. This means that anyone who owned one bitcoin at the time of the fork automatically owned one unit of Bitcoin Cash.[19][20][11][21] The technical difference between Bitcoin Cash and bitcoin at the time of the fork is that Bitcoin Cash supports larger block sizes. This allows the Bitcoin Cash blockchain to process more transactions per second compared to bitcoin.[22]

Bitcoin Cash was the first of the bitcoin forks, wherein software development teams modified bitcoin's code and released coins with "bitcoin" in their names, effectively creating "money out of thin air."[23] In relation to bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash is variously described as a spin-off,[24] a strand,[25] a product of a hard fork,[26] an offshoot,[27] a clone,[16] a second version,[15] or an altcoin.

In 2017 there were two factions of Bitcoin supporters: those that supported large blocks and those who preferred small blocks.[22] The Bitcoin Cash faction favored the use of its currency as a medium of exchange for commerce, while the bitcoin-supporting faction viewed Bitcoin's primary use as that of a store of value.[22] Bitcoin Cash is sometimes also referred to as Bcash.[28] Bitcoin Cash detractors call the cryptocurrency "Bcash", "Btrash", or "a scam", while its supporters maintain that "it is the pure form of Bitcoin".[22]

On 1 August 2017, Bitcoin Cash began trading at approximately $240, while bitcoin was priced around $2,700.[20] On 20 December 2017, Bitcoin Cash reached an intraday high of $4,355.62. However, by 23 August 2018, its price had declined by 88% to $519.12.[29]

Gavin Andresen, a former lead Bitcoin developer endorsed Bitcoin Cash in a tweet in November 2017.[11][30]

Avatar of Gavin Andresen
Avatar of Gavin Andresen
 Gavin Andresen
@gavinandresen
 Twitter logo, a stylized blue bird

Bitcoin Cash is what I started working on in 2010: a store of value AND means of exchange.

November 11, 2017[31]

In 2018, the Bitcoin Cash maximum block size was raised from 8MB to 32MB.[32][33][34]

The anonymous @Bitcoin account on X endorsed Bitcoin Cash in 2018.[35][36][37][38] The account was later briefly suspended by Twitter, possibly related to a "flood" of reports claiming "spam, hate speech, or price pumping" and brigading by some users calling on others to report it as a "fake @Bitcoin account." It was later reinstated.[37][39]

Bitcoin
@Bitcoin
 Twitter logo, a stylized blue bird

Bitcoin Cash is the oldest cryptocurrency. Its white paper was published in 2008 and the genesis block mined in January 2009.

Bitcoin Core (BTC) is an experimental currency that does not have a white paper and has only operated under its current model for two years.

May 4, 2018[40]

In 2018 Bitcoin Core developer Cory Fields found a bug in the Bitcoin ABC software that would have allowed an attacker to create a block causing a chain split. Fields notified the development team about it, and the bug was fixed.[41]

As of 2024, over 40 major businesses accept Bitcoin Cash in Antigua and Barbuda.[42]

Regulations

United States regulators have stated that Bitcoin Cash should be supervised as a commodity and not under the jurisdiction of the SEC.[43]

In 2022, Colorado began accepting bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin for state taxes and fee payments.[44]

New York's legislature introduced a bill that would establish "that state agencies are allowed to accept cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash as payment."[45] The bill is currently in the assembly committee.[46]

Gary Gensler, the current chairperson of the SEC, stated in 2018 that Bitcoin Cash does not "appear to trigger the Howey Test."[47] Gensler also stated in a 2018 speech "over 70% of the crypto market is bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash. Why did I name those four? They're not securities." However, in his official capacity, neither Gensler nor the SEC have assumed these positions.[48] Emin Gün Sirer, a professor at Cornell, stated that Bitcoin Cash primarily focused on everyday use (largely through "grassroots, organic," merchant onboarding/adoption) whereas bitcoin had an "enormous focus on price, an enormous focus on the 'store of value' narrative".[22]

Other currency forks

In November 2018, Bitcoin Cash experienced a contested hard fork where the project split into two cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Satoshi Vision.[12]

In November 2020, there was a second contested hard fork where the leading node implementation, BitcoinABC, created BCHA (now dubbed "eCash" or "XEC").[49][50]

Trading and usage

Bitcoin Cash trades on digital currency exchanges using the Bitcoin Cash name and the BCH currency code for the cryptocurrency.[51][52][53] On 26 March 2018, OKEx removed all Bitcoin Cash trading pairs except for BCH/BTC, BCH/ETH and BCH/USDT due to "inadequate liquidity".[24] As of May 2018, daily transaction numbers for Bitcoin Cash were about one-tenth of those of bitcoin.[24] Coinbase listed Bitcoin Cash on 19 December 2017 and the Coinbase platform experienced price abnormalities that led to an insider trading investigation.[54]

As of 2018, Bitcoin Cash payments are supported by payment service providers such as BitPay.[55][56] Both Robinhood and Revolut added support for Bitcoin Cash.[57][58]

As of 2021, PayPal has allowed users to buy, sell, hold, and checkout with Bitcoin Cash, bitcoin, ethereum, and litecoin, although PayPal users were not given the ability to transfer cryptocurrency outside of PayPal's system.[59] In 2022, PayPal enabled the sending Bitcoin Cash off app to users' own wallets/outside services.[60] Venmo also began supporting the cryptocurrency.[61] In 2023, Venmo also enabled support for transferring Bitcoin Cash off platform.[60]

As of 2021, the Dallas Mavericks accept Bitcoin Cash for payments.[62]

In 2021, Grayscale filed for its Bitcoin Cash Trust (ticker: BCHG) to become SEC-reporting. Separately, Grayscale's Digital Large Cap (GDLC) fund includes Bitcoin Cash in its composition.[63]

In June 2023, EDX Markets listed bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin.[64]

On 7 March 2024, Coinbase submitted a letter to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) outlining its proposal for monthly cash-settled futures contracts for Bitcoin Cash. On 1 April 2024, Coinbase Derivatives announced plans to introduce futures trading for Bitcoin Cash.[65][66][67][68]

On 5 July 2024, Mt. Gox announced that it began repayments of bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash to some of its creditors.[69]

On 10 September 2024, eToro settled with the SEC agreeing to pay fines for operating as an unregistered trading platform. As a result of this settlement, only bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash will continue to be traded on the platform.[43]

Difficulty adjustment algorithm

Bitcoin Cash uses a proof-of-work algorithm to timestamp every new block. It can be described as a partial inversion of a hash function. Bitcoin Cash targets a new block to be generated every ten minutes on average. The time needed to calculate a new block is influenced by a parameter called the mining difficulty. If the total amount of mining power increases, an increase of the mining difficulty can keep the block time roughly constant. Vice versa, if the mining power decreases, a decrease of the mining difficulty can keep the block time roughly constant.[70]

To keep the block generation time equal to ten minutes on average, Bitcoin Cash uses an algorithm adjusting the mining difficulty parameter. This algorithm is called the difficulty adjustment algorithm (DAA). Originally, both bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash used the same difficulty adjustment algorithm, adjusting the mining difficulty parameter every 2016 blocks. Since 1 August 2017, Bitcoin Cash also used an addition to the DAA, called an Emergency Difficulty Adjustment (EDA) algorithm. EDA was used alongside the original DAA and it was designed to decrease the mining difficulty of Bitcoin Cash by 20%, if the time difference between 6 successive blocks was greater than 12 hours.[70]

EDA adjustments caused instabilities in mining difficulty of the Bitcoin Cash system, resulting in Bitcoin Cash being thousands of blocks ahead of bitcoin. To address the problem with stability, a change of the Bitcoin Cash DAA was implemented and the EDA canceled. The change took effect on 13 November 2017. After the change, the Bitcoin Cash DAA adjusts the mining difficulty after each block. To calculate the difficulty for a new block, the Bitcoin Cash DAA uses a moving window of last 144 blocks.[70]

See also

References

  1. ^ Vigna, Paul (1 August 2017). "Bitcoin Rival Launches in Volatile First Day". WSJ. Archived from the original on 5 June 2019. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  2. ^ "Download Bitcoin Cash Node". Bitcoin Cash Node. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  3. ^ "BCHN MIT License". Gitlab. 6 January 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  4. ^ "BU MIT License". Gitlab. 11 January 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  5. ^ "Verde MIT License". Github. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  6. ^ "K•th MIT License". Github. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  7. ^ "BCHD ISC License". Github. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  8. ^ Cuthbertson, Anthony (21 May 2018). "The Battle over Bitcoin: Scandal and Infighting as 'Bitcoin Cash' Threatens to Overthrow the Most Famous Cryptocurrency". Independent. Archived from the original on 23 July 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  9. ^ Vigna, Paul (23 December 2017). "Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ether, Oh My! What's With All the Bitcoin Clones?". WSJ. Archived from the original on 6 June 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  10. ^ Wilson, Tom (17 July 2019). "Smaller cryptocurrencies feel pain as criticism of Facebook's Libra grows". Reuters. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  11. ^ a b c Lee, Timothy B. (20 December 2017). "Bitcoin rival Bitcoin Cash soars as Coinbase adds support". Ars Technica. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  12. ^ a b Kharif, Olga (23 November 2018). "Bitcoin Cash Wars End With No Relief for Biggest Cryptocurrency". Bloomberg LP. Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  13. ^ a b c d Popper, Nathaniel (25 July 2017). "Some Bitcoin Backers Are Defecting to Create a Rival Currency". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  14. ^ a b "SegWit and the bitcoin transaction fee conspiracy theory". FT Alphaville. FT. 21 March 2018. Archived from the original on 17 January 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  15. ^ a b "Bitcoin divides to rule". The Economist. 5 August 2017. Archived from the original on 23 July 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  16. ^ a b Irrera, Anna; Chavez-Dreyfuss, Gertrude (2 August 2017). "Bitcoin 'clone' sees a slow start following split". Independent. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  17. ^ a b Nakamura, Yuri; Kharif, Olga (4 December 2017). "Battle for 'True' Bitcoin Is Just Getting Started". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  18. ^ Didenko, Anton N., Regulating FinTech: Lessons from Africa (January 1, 2018). (2018) 19(2) San Diego International Law Journal 311, UNSW Law Research Paper No. 18-18, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3135604 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3135604
  19. ^ Kharif, Olga (15 January 2019). "Ethereum Seeks to Prove a Crypto Fork Need Not Be Contentious". CNBC. Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  20. ^ a b Selena Larson (1 August 2017). "Bitcoin split in two, here's what that means". CNN Tech. Cable News Network. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  21. ^ "Chief Counsel Advice (CCA) 202114020 | Bitcoin (BTC)/Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Hard Fork" (PDF). Internal Revenue Service (IRS). 9 April 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  22. ^ a b c d e Jeffries, Adrianne (12 April 2018). "THE ONE TRUE BITCOIN – Inside the struggle between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash". The Verge. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  23. ^ Kharif, Olga (18 September 2018). "Bitcoin Cash's Survival in Question as Possible Split Looms". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  24. ^ a b c Kelly, Jemima (15 May 2018). "Bitcoin cash is expanding into the void". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  25. ^ Titcomb, James (2 August 2017). "Bitcoin Cash: Price of new currency rises after bitcoin's 'hard fork'". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  26. ^ Orcutt, Mike (14 November 2017). "Bitcoin Cash Had a Big Day, Hinting at a Deep Conflict in the Cryptocurrency Community". MIT Technology Review. Archived from the original on 9 November 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  27. ^ Chen, Lulu Yilun; Lam, Eric. "Bitcoin Is Likely to Split Again in November, Say Major Players". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  28. ^ Bcash Nickname Sources:
  29. ^ Osipovich, Alexander (24 August 2018). "It Was Meant to Be the Better Bitcoin. It's Down Nearly 90%". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 25 August 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  30. ^ Lee, Timothy B. (12 November 2017). "Bitcoin rival doubles in price in four days as Bitcoin price slumps". Ars Technica. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  31. ^ Gavin Andresen [@gavinandresen] (11 November 2017). "Bitcoin Cash is what I started working on in 2010: a store of value AND means of exchange" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  32. ^ Daly, Lyle. "What is Bitcoin Cash (BCH)?". The Motley Fool. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  33. ^ Thomson, Greg (24 August 2021). "The 1 Factor Making Bitcoin More Like Gold Than Cash". The Motley Fool. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  34. ^ Hankin, Aaron (15 November 2018). "What you need to know about the Bitcoin Cash 'hard fork'". MarketWatch. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  35. ^ "The @Bitcoin Account Is Back From Suspension and Tweeting Against Bitcoin". Bloomberg.com. 10 April 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  36. ^ PYMNTS (11 April 2018). "Bitcoin Daily: Mark Cuban Prefers A 'Pet Rock' To Bitcoin, UK Warns PC Users Of 'Cryptojacking'". PYMNTS.com. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  37. ^ a b Jeffries, Adrianne (9 April 2018). "Twitter briefly shut down @Bitcoin, sparking wild conspiracy theories". The Verge. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  38. ^ "ビットコインキャッシュ(BCH)って？将来性やBTCとの違いなど". お金のカタチ (in Japanese). 17 May 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  39. ^ Jeffries, Adrianne (12 April 2018). "The one true Bitcoin". The Verge. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  40. ^ Bitcoin [@Bitcoin] (4 May 2018). "Bitcoin Cash is the oldest cryptocurrency. Its white paper was published in 2008 and the genesis block mined in January 2009. Bitcoin Core (BTC) is an experimental currency that does not have a white paper and has only operated under its current model for two years" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  41. ^ Evans, John (10 August 2018). "Cryptocurrency insecurity: IOTA, BCash and too many more". Techcrunch. Archived from the original on 11 August 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  42. ^ "2024 Investment Climate Statements: Antigua and Barbuda". United States Department of State. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  43. ^ a b Schwartz, Leo. "SEC signals retreat from Ethereum in its latest settlement with crypto platform eToro". Fortune Crypto. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  44. ^ Freed, Benjamin (21 September 2022). "Colorado starts accepting tax payments in crypto". StateScoop. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  45. ^ "50-State Review of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Regulation". Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  46. ^ "NY State Assembly Bill 2023-A2532". www.nysenate.gov. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  47. ^ Gensler, Gary. "Gary Gensler: Remarks at the Business of Blockchain event". MIT Media Lab. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  48. ^ Roberts, Jeff John. "SEC's Gensler seen telling hedge funds that Ethereum and Litecoin are 'not securities' in 2018 video". Fortune Crypto. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  49. ^ "Bitcoin ABC 0.22.10 Release Notes". 29 December 2020. Archived from the original on 21 April 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  50. ^ ABC, Bitcoin. "Bitcoin ABC". www.bitcoinabc.org. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  51. ^ Peterson, Becky (9 January 2018). "Coinbase blames extreme buyer demand for last month's Bitcoin cash disaster". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 4 May 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  52. ^ del Castillo, Michael (14 May 2018). "Winklevoss Brothers Bitcoin Exchange Adds Zcash, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash". Forbes. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  53. ^ Decambre, Mark (2 August 2017). "Meet Bitcoin Cash—the new digital-currency that surged 122% in less than a day". MarketWatch. Archived from the original on 14 June 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  54. ^ Osipovich, Alexander (20 December 2017). "Coinbase may have given away its own Bitcoin Cash surprise". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 4 November 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  55. ^ Lee, Timothy B. (24 January 2018). "Major payment company: "Fewer and fewer use cases" for bitcoin payments". Ars Technica. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  56. ^ Kharif, Olga (20 August 2018). "'Bitcoin Jesus' Is Having a Hard Time Winning Over True Believers". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  57. ^ Roberts, Jeff John. "Robinhood Adds Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin". Fortune Crypto. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  58. ^ Dillet, Romain (24 May 2018). "Revolut adds XRP and Bitcoin Cash support". TechCrunch. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  59. ^ Sigalos, MacKenzie (5 May 2021). "You don't actually own the bitcoin you buy on PayPal. But you can still make a profit". CNBC. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  60. ^ a b Weiss, Ben. "New Venmo feature lets users transfer crypto to outside wallets—and to each other". Fortune Crypto. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  61. ^ Hart, Robert. "Venmo Is The Latest Payment App To Embrace Cryptocurrency". Forbes. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  62. ^ Graffeo, Emily. "The Dallas Mavericks are giving away free gift-cards to customers who buy merch using cryptocurrency". Business Insider. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  63. ^ Mason, Emily. "Grayscale's Bitcoin And Ethereum Heavy Digital Large Cap Fund Registers With The SEC". Forbes. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  64. ^ Quiroz-Gutierrez, Marco. "Bitcoin Cash more than doubles after being offered by new exchange EDX Markets". Fortune Crypto. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  65. ^ "Coinbase's Plan to List DOGE Futures Pumps the Memecoin". Financial and Business News | Finance Magnates. 21 March 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  66. ^ "Dogecoin futures listing in Coinbase sparks price rise". FXStreet. 21 March 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  67. ^ Ajibade, Ibrahim. "Dogecoin traders spotted moving $251M after Coinbase's latest announcement". FX Empire. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  68. ^ Nikolova, Maria (11 April 2024). "Coinbase Derivatives launches Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin futures contracts". FX News Group. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  69. ^ Browne, Ryan (5 July 2024). "Over $170 billion wiped off cryptocurrencies as market tanks on Mt. Gox bitcoin payout fears". CNBC. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  70. ^ a b c Aggarwal, Vipul; Tan, Yong (January 2019). "A Structural Analysis of Bitcoin Cash's Emergency Difficulty Adjustment Algorithm". ResearchGate. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3383739. S2CID 214022150.

Media related to Bitcoin Cash at Wikimedia Commons

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bitcoin_Cash&oldid=1262582262"