Bitcoin, probably the world's most popular cryptodivisa, split into two on August 1, 2017, in an event known as hard fork, resulting in a new digital currency called bitcoin cash.
The development of this currency has triggered a process that some fear could divide and undermine the crypto-currency community.
Here is all there is to know about it:
Why did the bifurcation occur?
The initiative was led by a small group of bitcoin miners located in China who refused to support a software update aimed at speeding up transactions in the bitcoin network.
Most bitcoin miners warmly welcomed the proposed SegWit2X, a software upgrade to increase the transaction limit from 1 megabyte to 2 megabytes.
But some members were not happy with the planned upgrade to the concern that it would not go far enough to speed up transaction times.
These members forced the division of the block chain, which is the digital account book that records each bitcoin transaction, in two separate chains, which resulted in the creation of a new digital currency symbol known as bitcoin cash.
Anyone who had bitcoin before the fork was given access to the same amount of bitcoin cash, basically creating a 2-1 split. The original currency will still be called bitcoin, while the split version will take the name bitcoin cash.
What is the difference between bitcoin and bitcoin cash?
Bitcoin, also known as BTC and bitcoin cash, BCH, are both very similar in essence.
The most important difference between the two currencies is that bitcoin cash allows faster transaction times by customizing the size of the blocks.
The size of the bitcoin cash blocks will have a transaction limit of 8 megabytes.
Bitcoin transactions are instead limited to 1 megabyte every 10 minu
How much is bitcoin cash worth?
Right now, the bitcoin cash is worth only a fraction of the price of bitcoin. But after a slow start due to the lack of support for its network, the trading activity of the new digital currency has increased considerably.
The price of a bitcoin cash unit rose on August 20 to record record highs at $ 935, temporarily giving it a market capitalization of around $ 13 billion. It began trading at about $ 200 in several bags shortly after the hard fork or fork.
Where do you operate bitcoin cash?
The crypto-currency markets are divided between whether or not to support bitcoin cash. Several major markets, such as Coinbase and Bitstamp, have already announced that they will not support or allow bitcoin cash transactions on their exchanges.
Today, Kraken, ViaBTC China and Bittrex are the main markets that offer and support the new digital currency.