In the past few years, Bitcoin has gained plenty of recognition due to its towering market value which is increasing almost every day. However, on various occasions, we also see terms like “Cash, “Diamond” and “Gold” with the word Bitcoin.
This is because Bitcoin is the oldest cryptocurrency and during its prolonged run it has gone through numerous modifications and adaptations, one of the most renowned implementations is the Bitcoin Cash.
Why Learn The Difference?
It is vital to understand the difference between Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash for people who are planning to invest or are just stepping into the world of digital currencies. The only difference that is widely known among crypto enthusiasts is the difference in their price. It is clear that Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash is from the same network but the price of Bitcoin is almost $60,000 more than Bitcoin cash at this time.
If you are interested in investing and want to know more about trading and all the things related to Bitcoin trading, it is mandatory to take advantage of reliable platforms like BitQT to attain more knowledge.
About Bitcoin
Before rushing straight into the world of Bitcoin Cash, let’s take a look at Bitcoin and its history. This will help us clear some concepts about features of Bitcoin cash and another phenomenon such as the Bitcoin fork.
Bitcoin was introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 and was the first-ever digital currency. The purpose of it was to remove any kind of intermediary and third parties such as banks and governments, in other words, it is a decentralized form of currency that is not controlled by an individual establishment. It was first considered as any other currency used to buy and sell goods, however, it became more of an asset when its price kept increasing.
The breakthrough idea of making transactions without a trusted third party became possible with the help of blockchain. In a blockchain, the different parties who are known as crypto miners, use their computational power to keep a check on whether the transition was successful or not. However, it was also supposed to be fast but it got slower over time as the network of Bitcoin users started growing rapidly. This issue led to the development of various Bitcoin forks and the first one was Bitcoin cash.
What Is A Bitcoin Fork?
Before you get confused let's understand what a Bitcoin fork is. When the original code of the blockchain is changed or updated, it creates a fork. The code of the Bitcoin blockchain was also updated and then the updated block was split off from the original chain to create a new chain of nodes.
This process happened several times creating various Bitcoin forks and Bitcoin cash is one of them. Whenever a new node is created the holders of the original coins also get the forked version that is equal to the original Bitcoin.
Two Types Of Bitcoin Fork
The forks are divided into two basic types one is the hard fork and the other is a soft fork. The soft fork is known for the code change but it doesn’t create a new chain of its own, however, the hard fork starts a new chain and has nothing to do with the original network. The hard fork does not have backward compatibility and the network can make its own rules, Bitcoin Cash is an example of the hard fork.
About Bitcoin Cash
Bitcoin Cash is the second-largest fork of the network and it has its blockchain. It was first introduced at the beginning of 2017 and the main purpose behind its creation was to resolve the scalability issue with the original Bitcoin.
There were several reasons why the developers wanted to make changes to the original Bitcoin but when they put forward their ideas the community didn’t agree on the changes. This caused a group of developers to develop and forked Bitcoin with some alterations.
Some changes that were made to the network included:
The first feature was the faster transfer time, this meant that the transaction would not take 10 minutes to verify transactions.
Another thing that the developers upgraded was that the Bitcoin cash could handle more transfers per second compared to Bitcoin. The block size was also increased from 1 MB to 32 MB.
One of the key features was that the transfer fee of BCH was much lower, the transfer fee for BTC was $1 whereas the transfer fee for BCH was reduced to $0.20.
Cryptocurrencies Comparison Conclusion
Digital currencies hold their value and the factor that mainly affects their value is their demand. If we look at it this way then BCH is nowhere close to BTC but in cases like, if the currency is not being dealt as an asset then BCH provides more flexibility and benefits.
In the end, it all comes down to personal preference and the purpose for which the cryptocurrency is being used. It's up to you to determine which is better: Bitcoins vs Bitcoin Cash.
