Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a cryptocurrency that came into existence as a result of a hard fork of Bitcoin. Since it was released on August 1st, 2017, Bitcoin Cash has performed very well. Everyone who held Bitcoin then became an owner of an identical amount of BCH. It is considered to be one of the 5 top cryptocurrencies. The most popular and well-known exchange Coinbase lists Bitcoin Cash among only three other different cryptocurrencies, so it is a big deal.
The fork happened mainly because a group of influential miners and developers wanted to create peer-to-peer electronic cash for the Internet, and Bitcoin wasn’t able to handle an increasing number of transactions quickly enough to be an easy and convenient tool. So, in a way, it was inevitable because the ability of Bitcoin to scale was in doubt for a long time. The problem, as was mentioned, involved the speed of processing and verification of transactions.
Bitcoin network proved to be slow, especially against the backdrop of credit card transactions. According to estimates, Visa can process 65,000 transaction messages per second, while Bitcoin can only manage 7. As the number of the Bitcoin user continued to grow, the waiting time for the transactions exceeded as well. So, developers had to come with a solution – BCH.
If you wanted to know “What is Bitcoin Cash used for,” it’s exactly for those fast and cheap transactions. Well, faster and cheaper, to be completely honest. So, to sum up, what is the difference between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, the BCH network can handle many more transactions per second than the Bitcoin network ever could. One of the most important features that distinguish BCH from Bitcoin is an increased block size of 8 MB. It helps to accelerate the verification process, and hence the speed of the transaction itself. And that, in its turn, reduces the processing fees. However, with the faster transactions comes one potential downside: the BCH network is considered to be less secure relative to the Bitcoin network.
And the last question to ask can only be, “What is Bitcoin Cash price right now?” If you are thinking about buying some coins for yourself, it might be just the right time to do so. BCH is enjoying a good beginning of the year. With an impressive growth of about 160% from its lowest point ($170) more than two years ago, the price is getting close to its local high of $488, and it will probably be able to grow further.
