When Bitcoin Cash was originally released (via a hard fork of Bitcoin’s code and blockchain), it was widely thought that it was going to fail. While most didn’t feel it was going to go anywhere, many did still buy more Bitcoin prior to the fork so they could get “free” coins via dumping their BCH. But over time, the BCH community has continued to grow and progress, leading to it having a run up in price and a renewed interest.
The Flopping of SegWit2x
Undoubtedly, this event has something to do with BCH’s rise. Looking at the maximum block sizes of Bitcoin and its children chains, we have:
- BTC: 1MB
- BTG: 1MB
- BCH: 2MB
Now, this is important to realize because SegWit2x was all about an increase to 2MB blocks, something that was agreed upon with the NYA (New York Agreement). In essence, that agreement showed that the block size increase has some importance, and as of now, BCH is the only of the chains that supports it. As a result, it makes sense that those who wanted larger blocks would start making their way closer to BCH.
Major Adoption Pushing
Much like BTC and many other coins, success is brought upon by getting the coin adopted. In the case of BCH, it is very similar to BTC, letting anyone who already has framework built to easily integrate the new coin to their systems. The team behind the coin, as well as its community as a whole, have really been pushing for more adoption, explaining the benefits of it and helping new companies and individuals get involved. While there are many who want to stay away from the coin altogether, the simple fact is that the team is working hard to get it more widespread, something that is essential for its growth.
It’s worth noting that the value of each coin is not a clear indication of where it stands (though it is up almost 100% over the past few weeks, which isn’t bad at all). Instead, a better indication is its liquidity. To put it into perspective, as of this writing, the 24h volume of BTC is 5.4bn, versus 5.2bn for BCH. It shows that the coin is being heavily used and traded, and that even takes into consideration the fact that BCH is currently worth about 1/6 of BTC!
Is “The Flippening” Possible?
This term is used a lot to represent a coin flipping over BTC and becoming the new leader. Despite BCH’s significant progress lately and its value boost, the chance of the event happening is still very slim. The simple fact is that BTC itself is seen as the “digital gold,” while any other coin is an “altcoin.” Breaking that cycle would take a lot, and alts have historically had a much smaller community. As a result, regardless of what the team is able to accomplish with the coin and its adoption, the chance of it truly taking over BTC is very slim – though not impossible, as we’ve seen the impossible happen many times in crypto.
How to Keep Up With BCH
If you’re interested in seeing what’s happening with Bitcoin Cash and getting involved, the best place, by far, is through the /r/btc subreddit. The name was chosen as the team views it as “the real Bitcoin,” and it’s very important that you realize information within may be biased. With that said, it’s the best resource for seeing what’s happening with the team and what everyone is working on, an important thing to do if you hold or plan to hold any of these coins!