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Bitcoin Cash

BCH forked

A 2017 fork of Bitcoin that increased the block size to prioritize on-chain scaling for payments.

Symbol
BCH
Launched
2017-08-01
Creators
Amaury Séchet and the Bitcoin ABC development team (community-driven fork)
Ecosystem
Bitcoin
Type
Layer 1
Consensus
Proof of Work (SHA-256)
Smart Contracts
Yes
Languages
Bitcoin Cash Script (extended, CashScript)
Funding Raised
None — no premine or ICO; existing BTC holders received an equal balance of BCH at the fork.

Overview

Bitcoin Cash emerged from Bitcoin’s “block size wars,” a multi-year dispute over how the original chain should scale. Its supporters believed Bitcoin should increase its on-chain block size to keep transaction fees low and preserve its usefulness as everyday electronic cash, rather than relying on off-chain layers like Lightning.

History

Origins

After years of unresolved debate within the Bitcoin community, a faction led by developers including Amaury Séchet (creator of the Bitcoin ABC client) executed a hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain on August 1, 2017, increasing the block size limit from 1MB to 8MB (later raised further). Every BTC holder at the time of the fork received an equal amount of BCH, since the new chain shared Bitcoin’s full transaction history up to the split. Prominent early backers included Roger Ver and the mining pool Bitmain.

Funding

Bitcoin Cash had no premine or token sale; its entire initial supply was a direct snapshot of Bitcoin’s ledger at block 478,558, mirroring every BTC balance one-to-one at launch.

Technology

Consensus Algorithm

Bitcoin Cash uses the same SHA-256 Proof-of-Work algorithm as Bitcoin, meaning miners can point hash power at whichever chain is more profitable at a given moment. It uses a difficulty adjustment algorithm distinct from Bitcoin’s to handle sudden swings in mining participation.

Network & Ecosystem

Bitcoin Cash remains part of the broader Bitcoin lineage but operates as an independent, incompatible chain since the 2017 split. It later split again in November 2018, spinning off Bitcoin SV.

Smart Contracts

Bitcoin Cash has gradually extended Bitcoin’s original scripting language with opcodes for more complex transactions, and community tooling such as CashScript enables more expressive smart-contract-like functionality than base Bitcoin, though it remains far more limited than Ethereum-style virtual machines.

Use Cases

Bitcoin Cash’s stated goal is to be usable as everyday peer-to-peer electronic cash, prioritizing low transaction fees and on-chain capacity over Bitcoin’s more conservative, security-first scaling philosophy. In practice, its usage and market relevance have declined significantly since 2017, though it retains a dedicated community and merchant support base.

Controversies & Incidents

  • The block size wars: Bitcoin Cash is itself the product of one of crypto’s most contentious governance disputes, with accusations of centralization (aimed at large mining pools backing the fork) traded alongside accusations that Bitcoin’s core developers were unwilling to compromise on scaling.
  • The 2018 hash war and Bitcoin SV split: A second dispute over further scaling and protocol changes split Bitcoin Cash itself in November 2018, when Craig Wright and Calvin Ayre’s faction broke away to form Bitcoin SV after a contentious “hash war” in which both sides directed mining power at each other’s chains to try to gain dominance.
  • Declining market share: Bitcoin Cash’s price and usage have fallen sharply from their 2017 peak relative to Bitcoin, and it is frequently cited as an example of a contentious hard fork failing to displace the original chain it split from.