Bitcoin vs. Bitcoin Cash: What’s the Difference?

By Austin Shave | Created: | Last update: | Read Time: 6 minutes

Bitcoin, created by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, spawned both cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. The global crypto market is currently worth over $1 Trillion, an impressive feat for a relatively recent technological and financial invention. Much of this success can be attributed to Bitcoin, but despite this, the original cryptocurrency is not without its faults.

Shortly after Bitcoin’s release, and likely due to its open-source nature, rival cryptocurrencies were created, commonly known as “altcoins”. Some early altcoins have stuck around, such as Litecoin, although none rival Bitcoin by market capitalization or trade volume. Some altcoins are directly forked from Bitcoin, meaning they are distinct coins and networks but stem from the Bitcoin network. Currently, there are over 50 active forked Bitcoin projects, with Bitcoin Cash (BCH) being the most popular.

Bitcoin vs. Bitcoin Cash: What’s the Difference? Bitcoin (BTC) is the original cryptocurrency, while Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a fork created in 2017. Despite sharing a common name, BCH and BTC use completely separate networks with different specifications. Bitcoin Cash was created in 2017 as a response to the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 91, which increased block sizes, thus requiring more powerful systems to act as a node on the network.

Bitcoin vs. Bitcoin Cash: What is Bitcoin?

Before we tackle Bitcoin Cash vs. Bitcoin, let’s first discuss each cryptocurrency separately. Bitcoin is the first and most popular cryptocurrency, released in 2009. It is a digital currency powered by a decentralized peer-to-peer network known as the blockchain. Created by the anonymous person or group known as Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin was originally founded as an alternative to the traditional banking and finance system.

Bitcoin technology

As you might imagine, with such groundbreaking technology, there is a high level of complexity involved in Bitcoin and the blockchain network it runs on. All Bitcoin operations are performed on the blockchain, including all transactions (sending and receiving), storing, and coin production. When a Bitcoin is sent, it is added to a block, which is a segment of the blockchain containing other transactions. These blocks need to be verified by the peer-to-peer network to ensure that they are correct and not fraudulent, in a process known as mining. To incentivize miners, a “block reward” containing newly produced Bitcoin and transfer fees is rewarded.

Bitcoin vs Bitcoin Cash what is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin tokenomics

The max supply of Bitcoin is 21,000,000 BTC. This total supply isn’t directly pre-programmed but calculated by working out how many Bitcoins will be mined before the halving function prevents more coins from being created. The total circulating supply of BTC is 19,499,425 BTC at the time of writing. 1 BTC will currently cost you $26,920, which is down from its all-time high of $69,044.77, which it reached in November 2021.

Bitcoin vs. Bitcoin Cash: What is Bitcoin Cash?

Bitcoin Cash is an offshoot or fork of Bitcoin. It contains old Bitcoin transaction histories but has split off in its own direction, opting for smaller block sizes and other technical differences.

Bitcoin Cash tokenomics

Before we address the history of Bitcoin Cash’s creation and why it went on its own path separate from Bitcoin, let’s briefly discuss the tokenomics of BCH. The max supply limit is the same as Bitcoin, at 21,000,000 BCH, with a slightly higher total circulating supply of 19,518,169 BCH. 1 BCH currently costs $234, down considerably from its 2017 all-time high price of $4,355. Bitcoin Cash currently ranks 16th by market capitalization and 12th by trade volume, meaning that there are considerably fewer Bitcoin Cash transactions per day than Bitcoin.

➡️ What is Bitcoin Cash? - A Beginner’s Guide Source: 99 Bitcoins

What is Bitcoin Cash?

Bitcoin vs. Bitcoin Cash: Why Are They Separate?

Although there had been many rival altcoins offering similar or improved technology, no coin had been forked from Bitcoin until 2017. Due to the immense rise in popularity of Bitcoin at this time, the network faced scalability issues. Originally designed as a means to transfer wealth in a decentralized manner, Bitcoin was slowly becoming more of a speculative investment asset, with fees rising. To combat these issues, the community made several proposals.

SegWit

Short for “Segregated Witness”, SegWit was an upgrade or “soft fork” to the Bitcoin network that aimed to improve scalability. It introduced the Lightning Network, a second layer of the Bitcoin chain that enabled faster micropayments. It also reduced transaction sizes by removing the unlocking signature.

Block size

When a Bitcoin transaction is sent, it enters a type of queue system, needing to pass through different nodes on the network before eventually joining a block and permanently entering the blockchain. Although the number of transactions contained in the block can vary, the size of the block remains the same (unless altered by an agreed improvement protocol). A proposal to increase the block size from 1MB to 8MB was not approved by the majority of Bitcoin users, and thus, the first Bitcoin fork was created, Bitcoin Cash. The Bitcoin Cash block size later increased to 32MB.

Mining

Both BTC and BCH use the proof-of-work blockchain consensus mechanism. This means that miners are required to validate transactions and produce new coins from the block reward function. Although Bitcoin is more valuable, Bitcoin Cash has an emergency difficulty adjustment function, which lowers mining difficulty to incentivize miners to choose it over Bitcoin. Despite this, Bitcoin is still more popular and profitable to mine, although Bitcoin Cash miners generally expect a future price increase to make up for this.

BCH vs BTC: Which Is a Better Investment?

Almost all crypto markets are highly turbulent, so any type of investment requires a lot of diligence and risk management. While it doesn’t seem likely that Bitcoin Cash (BCH) will overtake Bitcoin (BTC) any time soon, that doesn’t necessarily mean it is a worse investment. When comparing the charts of both coins, BCH and BTC follow a similar trend, albeit with significantly different prices. Due to Bitcoin's longevity and first-mover advantage, it could be argued that it is a better investment overall, but Bitcoin Cash may yet have a positive future due to its technical advantages.

How to purchase BCH or BTC

If you aren’t interested or don't have the resources to mine either Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash, then you can still purchase either coin. Choosing a licensed crypto exchange is important, as it assures the safety of your funds and private data. ChicksX is a crypto exchange licensed in Canada but operating worldwide; you can buy Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash on our site for low fees and with several payment methods. Contact us via our live chat support system if you have any questions, and we will be more than happy to assist you.

BCH vs BTC which is a better investment?

Bitcoin vs. Bitcoin Cash: FAQs

Let’s take a look at some frequently asked questions about Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.

What is BCH crypto?

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a cryptocurrency forked from Bitcoin in 2017 due to disagreements over how the coin and network should function. The main difference between the two networks is an increased block size in the Bitcoin Cash network, resulting in faster transactions with smaller fees.

Is Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash better?

Due to the greater block size, Bitcoin Cash generally has lower transaction fees and faster speeds. However, Bitcoin is still the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with many more sites and services accepting it as a payment. Bitcoin also ranks higher by trade volume, demonstrating that more people use it for a variety of transactions.

Should I buy Bitcoin Cash?

Bitcoin Cash is a well-regarded cryptocurrency with an active community and a history of relative stability. Compared to Bitcoin, it has lower fees and faster transaction times. Bitcoin Cash also has a much lower cost than Bitcoin, meaning you can buy at least 1 BCH for far cheaper than 1 BTC.

What is the correlation between BTC and BCH?

After an initial period after the fork when Bitcoin Cash maintained a price closer to Bitcoin, BCH has since fallen to below $1000. Both coins generally follow the same bull and bear market trends, but in the period since Bitcoin Cash’s creation, Bitcoin has provided a slightly higher ROI.

Bitcoin vs. Bitcoin Cash: Conclusion

While Bitcoin Cash doesn’t compare to Bitcoin in the markets, from a technical aspect, it improves upon BTC in many ways. The issue BCH faces is with mass adoption. Most casual users of crypto are less interested in the various technical aspects, particularly as many other cryptocurrencies like Litecoin offer similar benefits in fees and transaction speeds. Furthermore, there is Bitcoin SV, another fork of Bitcoin Cash, that aims to stick more to the original vision of Bitcoin. If you’re interested in more crypto articles with topics including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and much more, then make sure to check out the ChicksX blogs section.