About
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a decentralized cryptocurrency that was created as a result of a "hard fork" from the original Bitcoin blockchain in 2017. The split was fueled by a long-standing debate within the community regarding scalability and the best way to increase transaction capacity. While Bitcoin (BTC) opted to maintain a smaller block size and use off-chain solutions like the Lightning Network, Bitcoin Cash proponents argued for increasing the on-chain block size to ensure faster processing and lower fees.
Technically, Bitcoin Cash functions very similarly to Bitcoin, but with a significantly larger block size limit (currently 32 MB compared to Bitcoin's 1 MB). This allows the network to handle thousands of more transactions per block, aiming to fulfill Satoshi Nakamoto’s original vision of a "Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" that is practical for daily micro-transactions. Despite sharing the same transaction history as Bitcoin up until the point of the fork, Bitcoin Cash has since implemented its own unique upgrades, such as a different Difficulty Adjustment Algorithm (DAA) and "CashTokens," which enable smart-contract-like functionality and token issuance directly on the BCH chain.
