One thing is for sure; change is constant. Day to day there is something in a state of flux in the crypto space. I recently wrote an article about the Bitcoin Cash Expected Fork in November 2020. Even after that piece I am still thinking about: Intel You Should Know About Bitcoin Cash.
What's the Story with Bitcoin Cash?
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) started in 2017 when it forked from Bitcoin (BTC). At that time, there was a 1:1 distribution, so holders of BTC received an equal amount of BCH. The premise at the time was BCH would:
- lower transaction costs
- utilize larger block sizes
- realize becoming a true cryptocurrency for payment & commerce
Since 2017, the crypto space has changed dramatically, yet remained very similar to those in it. With an All-Time-High of ~$4,000 USD during the latest bull market and now as of time of writing, somewhere around ~$230 USD; movement with BCH can be expected.
When BCH forked off from the mother ship, just one group controlled all of the hashing power on the BCH network, so I suspect that had something to do with less adoption that would be expected.
The ethos of the group was to be a source of payment as is socially expected by BTC. With bigger block sizes, speeds would increase and adoption would flourish.
Today we are in a slightly different environment. Two groups run nearly 90% of the mining with a third group catching almost the remaining 10%. There are a few sub single percentage groups as well.
In some ways I see BCH as this Libertarian system that has growing supporting in the midst of a digital gold and silver world.
I find it curious this breakdown is mirroring the current political system in the U.S. Or am I just seeing what I reflect from current civic affairs?
With all of this in play, I still think there is a place for BCH to be part of your focus.
Here's the Why
The more I dig into this topic, the more intrigue sets in on why this is all happening and what meaning to apply to it. Let's start with 1 speculative reason followed by a couple more current points that might connect the dots.
Vitalik Says So
In 2019, Vitalik Buterin, Co-Founder of Ethereum (ETH) made a community rattling endorsement for BCH in regards to meeting data needs in the ETH upgrade development. Now remember this is just a year ago, but what was focused on is:
The solution he believes is a “perfect fit” for Ethereum is Bitcoin Cash. Buterin cited BCH’s 32 MB per 600 seconds of data throughput and low fees as two of the biggest reasons why using it as a data layer for Ethereum would be perfect. -Priyeshu Garg
In my opinion the visceral reaction to his proposal was multi-pronged. Meaning that it was as much about people's feelings about BCH as it was the technical aspects, which can be valid. Even if ETH is looking at BCH as a temporary scaling solution, this is a short term positive for both projects.
Draper Says So
There's a line of thought in performance management that says when you seek success, then find those who are successful and model what they do. We may not know all of the exact reasons that Investor, Tim Draper is bullish on BCH, absorbing some of his wisdom is really helpful in how you frame your thinking on BCH.
In this tweet from @DavidShares, Tim Draper talks about why he is seeing positive in holding BCH.
As an aside, there was a bit of mystical thinking that T.D.'s twitter account was hacked along with all of the other high profile hacks in early September 2020 and that was the reason for his support of BCH in some shilling extravaganza.
That was clearly not the case when he confirmed his statements which seem to focus around processing time and lower fees as presented in this article from news.bitcoin.com.
The Fork
When BCH forked from BTC, it mirrored the digital gold in nearly every way except fees and speed. Even down to supply of 21 million tokens is the same.
In many ways the look and feel is where I believe Bitcoin intended to be before it ascended from an intended currency to a store of value or Gold.
So, now here we are today with the BCH ABC proposal on the table to execute on November 15, 2020 The root of the matter is;
...team will introduce a new “Coinbase Rule”, which provides that 8% of the mined BCH will be redirected to Bitcoin ABC to finance protocol development...
As I referenced in the first article, linked at the beginning, there is a pretty even split down the middle in terms of the different sides of this issue with one out of several much smaller groups potentially having a tie-breaking ability in the matter.
Where To Now?
Overall, in the short term a fork would provide opportunity for the community to engage and make their own decision on which way to go.
With Tim Draper holding a position & watching along with Vitalik noticeably silent on the issue after his statements in 2019, I expect an opportunity to appear for everyone involved.
