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Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Offering Users and Investors Practical Solutions and High Valuations

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Offering Users and Investors Practical Solutions and High Valuations
Written by
Jim Bloom
Published on
December 1, 2017
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The general upward trajectory that has been followed by Bitcoin since its creation had led the world into a frenzy. As more and more people adopt and embrace it, the currency keeps gaining value to the benefit of its holders.The benefits accrued, however, have not only been to the holders but also to holders of other cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin Cash (BCH) not being left behind in the chase for adoption and high valuation.The currency’s price can be seen in the chart below: BCH Daily ChartChart courtesy of coinmarketcap.comThis being so, a lot of problems have, however, arisen due to the similarity between Bitcoin and its offshoot Bitcoin Cash. Therefore, let’s take some time to review the history behind both of these currencies before taking a closer look.Bitcoin Cash: The HistoryAs described above, Bitcoin Cash is an offshoot of Bitcoin.The currency came to formulation courtesy of differences in ideology between different groups of Bitcoin users. With some developers believing that the limited size of blocks was adequate to ensure that the currency’s stability was maintained (in line with the doctrines of its founder), a different group of developers were of a different opinion.Contrary to the latter, the second group believed that an increase in the number of blocks would aid the operational capacity of bitcoin through ensuring an increase in the number of transactions per unit time (given that at present, only three transactions per second can occur). This would reduce the cost per transaction as well as speed them up.Bitcoin Cash was therefore as a result of a hard fork from the initial Bitcoin. The latter which did not incorporate Segwit led to the creation of the third largest blockchain in terms of market capitalization: Bitcoin Cash.Developments in The CurrencyAs described above, the currency was as a result of an increase in the size of blocks, the units which play the key role in the transactional aspect of the blockchain technology (in rudimentary terms).Bitcoin Cash’s developers increased the size of the blocks from one megabyte (as is still the case with Bitcoin) to eight megabytes, a milestone in the history of cryptocurrencies according to the developers of the currency.Since then, a lot more is expected from them including a second and third tranche of forks next year all in a bid to ensure the currency’s transactional efficiency.The latter postulates a lot of benefits derived from the developments akin to Bitcoin Cash which, in our view, are warranted as will be seen below.A release by the development team at Bitcoin Cash spoke to the two tranches touched on above as going to happen in May and November 2018 with the plan being to increase the size of the blocks on those two dates. The long-awaited move will be coupled with lower fees and rapid growth for the users of Bitcoin Cash, a move which has been welcomed by the team in advance. Other advancements will entail a better difficulty adjustment algorithm as well as improvements in the scalability of the currency.Problems and SolutionsA significant problem that seems to have caught on pertaining Bitcoin Cash is the fact that upon the completion of the hard fork earlier this year, the developer team left with the old Bitcoin code. The latter also carried with it the address formats used by users to transact money. This has ended up being catastrophic for them as it led to sometheir clients having discrepancies in the conversion of Bitcoin to Bitcoin Cash and vice versa and in some cases even losing money.It has become common practice, as a result of the above, to have people on developer forums talking of having converted some of their Bitcoin Cash into Bitcoin and being unable to retrieve it.As a result, the developer team at Bitcoin Cash has been working at ensuring the alleviation of the above problem through ensuring the deviation of the two address formats and this seems to be bearing fruit.The announcement of the new address system dubbed ‘cashaddr’ has come to ensure that this problem is all in all resolved going forward. With this out of the way as from January 2019, players within the Bitcoin Cash space will have more freedom to ensure that they can transact without having to suffer losses attributable to ‘glitches’ in the system.ValuationThe currency is currently priced at $1,385 and with a market capitalization of $23 billion or 2.3 million Bitcoins.With the current trajectory that has been followed by Bitcoin expected to hold in the long run, other cryptocurrencies are expected to keep follow in the same light and rise.ConclusionDespite a few setbacks that have come in the wake of the operations of Bitcoin Cash, such as those described above, the trust in the system has ensured that the currency remains stronger than ever. We expect that this will hold not only in the short term but also looking into the horizon.We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on BCH, sign up below!Disclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide, investment advice. Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency.

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