Institutions
Institutions
About Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
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Bitcoin Cash is a cryptocurrency and blockchain that aims to be an electronic cash payment system. It differentiates itself from Bitcoin by processing more transactions.
Bitcoin Cash is a fork of Bitcoin and technically similar; however, its increased block size makes it more likely to be used as a payment system as opposed to a store of value system like Bitcoin. The hard fork that created Bitcoin Cash took effect on August 1, 2017. Bitcoin holders, as of common block 478558 on August 1, 2017 at approximately 13:16 UTC, equivalently owned the same amount of Bitcoin Cash as bitcoin held at that time. The first independent Bitcoin Cash block was 478559.
Token
Bitcoin Cash or BCH is the digital asset token of the Bitcoin Cash network (similar to how bitcoin or BTC is the digital asset token of the Bitcoin network). All BCH balances and transactions are recorded on the Bitcoin Cash blockchain. Similar to Bitcoin, the smallest subunit of BCH is the “satoshi,” which is equal to 10-8 BCH or one hundred-millionth of a BCH (0.00000001 BCH). Bitcoin Cash can be bought and sold for fiat currency or other digital currencies.
Bitcoin Cash can be purchased on a cryptocurrency exchange and stored in a crypto wallet and custodian like Gemini.
Characteristics
If bitcoin resembles “digital gold” (i.e., a store of value), then Bitcoin Cash is akin to a “digital cash” (i.e., a medium of exchange). Its mission is to create an electronic peer-to-peer cash system with larger blocks that will increase transaction throughput and lower fees. While the Bitcoin network has a 1 megabyte blocksize (2 megabytes with Segregated Witness transaction format) and is capable of processing 7 transactions per second, the Bitcoin Cash network has a 8 megabyte block size, which is 4-8 times larger. In comparison, Visa, which is a centralized, global payment network, is capable of processing over 150 million transactions per day and 24 thousand transactions per second.
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The pricing data and asset description above are for general informational purposes only and are not investment advice. Buying, selling, and trading cryptocurrency involves risks. You should consult with your own appropriately qualified and licensed advisors before engaging in any transaction on Gemini. Some data is provided by Messari, a third party that is not affiliated with Gemini.