Bitcoin Cash Rises (But Will It Hold?)

TL;DR

• Bitcoin Cash hasn't really caught on as a frequently used form of payment, but it hasn't become any more centralized than the original BTC either.

• In the past 7 days, BCH has risen by ~78%, mostly fueled by the news that it will be 1 of 4 tokens listed on EDX Markets - the ​exchange backed by Fidelity, Schwab and Citadel​.

Full Story

Back on 1 Aug, 2017 - well before this newsletter ever existed - something monumental in the Bitcoin world happened.

A proposal to increase the block size from 1MB to 8MB was made, but the community couldn't agree on whether to do it or not.

Some thought it would allow the network to process more transactions per second, leading to faster and cheaper transactions.

Others said it would require more storage and processing power, making it more difficult for individual users to participate in the network and favoring those with more resources, resulting in more centralization.

In the end, Bitcoin went through a '​hard fork​,' and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was created.

A 'hard fork' is when the blockchain splits into two with one blockchain (BTC) continuing to operate as originally planned, and the other blockchain (BCH) now operates by the new rules.

Since 2017, both blockchains have continued to exist, side-by-side.

BCH was designed to be used as a cryptocurrency that would be frequently used as a form of payment.

In the end, BCH hasn't really caught on as a frequently used form of payment, but it hasn't become any more centralized than the original BTC either.

However, in the past 7 days, BCH has risen by ~78%, mostly fueled by the news that it will be 1 of 4 tokens listed on EDX Markets - the ​exchange backed by Fidelity, Schwab and Citadel​.

BCH is now sitting at around $190 which is a far stretch from its peak at $2,947 back in 2017.

Let's see if this bump in price is a flash in the pan or the start of a prolonged upward trend.