What is Bitcoin Cash (BCH)?

Deep Dive

1. Purpose & Value Proposition

Bitcoin Cash was created to address Bitcoin’s scalability challenges. By increasing the block size from 1 MB to 8 MB (now 32 MB), BCH allows more transactions per block, reducing fees and confirmation times. This aligns with its mission to function as “electronic cash” for daily use, contrasting Bitcoin’s shift toward a “store of value” narrative.

2. Technology & Architecture

BCH retains Bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus but diverges in key technical choices:
- Larger blocks: Enables higher throughput (~200 transactions/second vs. Bitcoin’s ~7).
- Simplified scripting: Focuses on transactional efficiency over complex smart contracts (though recent upgrades like VM Limits and BigInt in 2025 expanded programmability).
- Adaptive difficulty: Adjusts mining complexity to stabilize block times during hash-rate fluctuations.

3. Key Differentiators

• Cost efficiency: Transactions cost fractions of a cent, vs. Bitcoin’s multi-dollar fees during peak demand.
• Community ethos: Prioritizes usability for payments over maximalist “digital gold” narratives.
• Governance: Decentralized development with a history of contentious forks (e.g., Bitcoin SV in 2018) reflecting its experimental, user-driven ethos.

Conclusion

Bitcoin Cash is a purpose-built payment network that diverged from Bitcoin to prioritize scalability and affordability, now evolving toward broader utility with smart contracts. Will its balance of simplicity and innovation attract sustained adoption in a competitive layer-1 landscape?