The end of the year is approaching, and the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network and community have continued to see significant growth. From merchant acceptance, cryptocurrency businesses integrating support, and many other additions to the BCH economy, shows that bitcoin cash will have some robust infrastructure for 2018.

Bitcoin Cash Trade Volume Jumps While BCH Price Heads Northbound

This week the price of bitcoin cash has jumped quite a bit after meandering around the $1,300 region just a few weeks ago. Last night the price topped out at $2,000 per BCH, and at the moment the currency is hovering around $1,870 per token. BCH still commands the fourth largest market capitalization this month as the market cap has surpassed $31Bn. Trade volume has been high all week, and today the decentralized currency has traded over $2.4Bn worth of BCH. The top currency traded with BCH is bitcoin core (BTC), followed by the USD. The Korean won only captures 20 percent of the volume by currency, after it dominated BCH markets for quite some time.

Closing Out 2017 With 30,000 Blocks

So far the BCH chain is close to approaching 30,000 blocks mined since the hard fork on August 1, 2017. The bitcoin cash chain is operating at roughly 9 percent of the legacy chain’s difficulty, and it’s 16 percent more profitable to mine legacy bitcoin. Mining profitability has been very consistent since the hard fork last month when bitcoin cash changed the mechanics of its difficulty adjustment algorithm. The mining pools participating in processing BCH network transactions right now include Antpool, BTCC, BTC.com, Bitcoin.com, Viabtc, BTC.top, and roughly four unknown mining organizations.

BCH Infrastructure Growth Continues

Bitcoin cash got a lot of infrastructure support this week from several different facets. For instance, BCH will have two exchanges that will only deal in bitcoin cash pairs from the companies Okex, and Viabtc. BCH got more automated teller support from the ATM manufacturer Lamassu who integrated the codebase into their software. The wallet company ‘Edge‘, formerly known as Airbitz, announced future integration with BCH, and the most downloaded wallet in the globe, Blockchain Wallet, launched full bitcoin cash support on December 14. The CEO and founder of Blockchain Wallet states:

As the popularity of bitcoin cash has grown, so has the desire from our customers to manage bitcoin cash from within their Blockchain wallets in the same way as bitcoin and ether. We are thrilled to fully support bitcoin cash through our wallet and will continue to find ways to make interacting with digital assets even easier for our users.

In addition to these announcements, a company called Uquid has launched a bitcoin cash debit card. The company says the card can be loaded with BCH funds and used to pay for everyday purchases or withdraw cash at ATMs. However, the card is not available in all countries at the moment. Countries not serviced include Eritrea, Libya, South Sudan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, and yes even the United States. There are also discussions revolving around the BCH community concerning other bitcoin cash cards being released in the near future.

A Mixing Platform and Darknet Market Acceptance

So far bitcoin cash supporters seem very pleased with the surrounding infrastructure and the past week’s market performance. In addition to all of these announcements, the BCH community was surprised by a mixer platform that provides stronger privacy for the currency’s transactions. Also, the well-known darknet market, Dream, has returned after a brief hiatus, and announced that bitcoin cash is now accepted for market purchases.

What do you think about the progress bitcoin cash has made this year? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Disclaimer: Bitcoin.com does not endorse the Uquid product/service and debit card. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the mentioned company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.