What is Bitcoin Cash (BCH)?

Bitcoin Cash is a cryptocurrency that split from Bitcoin in 2017. It shares Bitcoin's history up to the split, its 21 million cap and its mining. The difference is size: Bitcoin Cash allows much bigger blocks, so each block can hold more payments.

Where it came from

In 2017, Bitcoin's blocks were limited to 1 MB, and Bitcoin's community disagreed over how the network should grow. One side wanted to keep blocks small and add other fixes. The other wanted bigger blocks.

They could not agree. On 1 August 2017, the big-block side made a hard fork: a change to the rules that the rest of the network did not accept. From that block on, two separate chains and two separate coins existed.

How it works

Bitcoin Cash works like Bitcoin (Lessons 2 to 5).

• Mining secures it, as on Bitcoin (Lesson 4).
• Bigger blocks. The fork raised the limit to 8 MB, and an update in May 2018 raised it to 32 MB. An upgrade in May 2024 replaced the fixed limit with an adaptive one that can grow with use.

The idea is that more room per block keeps fees low for everyday payments.

Supply

Bitcoin Cash follows Bitcoin's schedule.

• The total is capped at 21 million.
• New coins come only as the mining reward, which halves about every four years.
• The second halving since the split, on 4 April 2024, cut the reward from 6.25 to 3.125 BCH.

What people use it for

People use Bitcoin Cash for low-fee payments and hold and trade it like other coins.

Risks to know

• Smaller mining network. A smaller network of miners is cheaper to overpower than Bitcoin's. The Monero guide describes what such an attack looks like.
• Splits can happen again. A coin that began with a hard fork can split again if its own community disagrees.
• Competition. Stablecoins and newer networks also offer cheap payments.
• Price swings. BCH can fall far and fast, like other coins.

Learn more

Lesson 3 explains blocks, Lesson 4 covers mining, Lesson 5 covers halvings and capped supply, and the Bitcoin guide describes the chain it split from.