What is Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and how it appeared?

The danger of hardforn.e. dividing the network into several separate blockchains, some time ago, it seemed, was minimized. However, in recent days, this issue has again turned out to be the central on the agenda of the bitcoin community. What happened and why this such menacingly sounding hard force threatens Bitcoin again?

Why did the probability of a hardford seemed low?

To do this, it is necessary to recall how the events developed on the scaling of bitcoin over the past few months. The main improvement in which a significant part of the community insisted was Segregated Witness (Segwit) for a long time. However, to activate it required support for at least 95% of miners. Guided by their economic interests, not everyone agreed to support the proposal. At some stage, the confrontation of several camps came to a dead end, which, as it seemed, could be the proposal of Segwit2x. The solution consists of two parts: the first provides for Segwit activation, the second – an increase in the size of the block to 2MB.

However, it also faced certain difficulties: the discontent of the community was caused by the fact that this proposal was accepted behind closed doors by a group of miners and companies. The answer was the UASF proposal – the software activated by users. It also involves the activation of Segwit, but due to the holders of the nodes (GCD), thereby depriving miners of the economic advantage.

UASF activation should take place on August 1, 2017, but it also threatened the hardforn. https://gagarin.news/news/north-korean-hackers-attack-japanese-crypto-exchanges/ It was avoided using another BIP 91 solution, which turned out to be compatible with both Segwit2x and UASF. Its activation took place on July 22, after which all the ways to the Segwit implementation were opened.

So why again they started talking about the hard fork?

In a series of all these events, a group of industry representatives (mainly Chinese miners that insist on increasing the size of the bloc) announced its intention to launch a separate client called Bitcoinabc. Initially, it was assumed that it would become a kind of insurance in case the second part of the Segwit2x is not implemented. A separate coin called Bitcoin Cash (BCC) was awarded the client.

However, to the surprise of many, Bitcoinabc developers announced their intention to launch the protocol on August 1, t.e. On the same day when UASF activation should take place.

What does the launch of Bitcoinabc (Bitcoin Cash) mean?

Firstly, it is a permanent fork of the current Bitcoin network, which, although it retains the previous record history, is incompatible with the solutions described in the SEGWIT2X and UASF sentences. Nevertheless, the probability of its implementation, according to many representatives of the industry, is estimated at almost 99%.

The FAQ section on the project website says:

– Does Bitcoin Cash differ from Bitcoin?

– Yes. Bitcoin Cash is a continuation of the Bitcoin project as peering digital currency. This is fork Bitcoin blockchain with renewed consensus rules, thanks to which its further growth and scaling is possible.

I use bitcoin. How is it personally?

Fork Bitcoin Cash means that if the user has a certain number of bitcoins as of 12:20 UTC August 1, 2017, when the activation of the new client is expected, he will have the same BCC coins after that.

Just like that, free money?

Yes. But on one condition – the user must personally control the private keys to his wallet. If the funds are stored in a third-party provider (for example, on the exchange or in one of the online pickers), there is a high probability that the user will not be able to get the coins of BCC. For example, the popular Coinbase wallet has already stated that it would not support Bitcoin Cash, since it is incompatible with the current version of bitcoin.

A number of exchanges and wallets declare their readiness to distribute the BCC among users, but there is no confidence that technically they will be ready to do this.

What other risks can there be when starting Bitcoin Cash?

All hardcores are risks of re -playing attacks and washing attacks. According to the developers of Bitcoin Cash, the protection against Replay Attacks has already been built into the new software. As for the risk of erasing attack, it may turn out to be insignificant, since we are talking about a completely new blockchain.

What are the main properties Bitcoin Cash have?

Firstly, Bitcoin Cash offers a significantly larger block size-8MB against 1MB of the current version of bitcoin. The size of the block in Bitcoin Cash, as expected, can be configured depending on the needs.

Secondly, as already mentioned, the new software has a built-in mechanism for protection against attacks (although this statement is made by a number of Bitcoin developers to doubt), as well as a slightly different structure of transaction signatures.

Thirdly, Bitcoin Cash promises a faster recalculation of complexity than the current version of bitcoin (2016 blocks).

What does this mean for the usual bitcoin?

This is the most difficult question, and the answer to it at this stage is completely difficult. According to part of the community, the Bitcoin Cash hard fork means nothing more than the creation of a new altcoin, which will have its own blockchain and its own ticker – BCC, not BTC.

However, questions remain regarding which pools will be mined by the BCC and which chain will have a higher hashReite. Will it correctly call BCC bitcoin if the hashReit of this chain suddenly turns out to be higher than the current version of bitcoin? What will be the volume of both chains and what will be the price ratio of two coins? Finally, how the launch of Bitcoin Cash can affect the second part of Segwit2x, t.e. to increase the size of the block to 2MB, and which circuit will select projects operating on top of the Bitcoin blockchain (Counterparty, Omni, etc.P.)?

How best to prepare for a hardford?

It makes sense to clarify with their providers how they are preparing for the probable hard fork, otherwise the best decision would be to take funds to the wallet, the private keys to which the user himself controls. In this case, upon the onset of the hardforned and the appearance of new coins, the user will have the opportunity to perform the necessary actions and get coins in both chains.

What exchanges and wallets support Bitcoin Cash?

So far there are not many, and information is available on the official website of the project. As of July 26, exchanges such as Viabtc, OKEX (Okcoin), Bithumb and Huobi are mentioned here. Wallets – Bitcoinabc, Ledger and Electrum Cash (the team of the popular Electrum wallet has already made a statement that has nothing to do with the latter).