Cryptocurrency
Is Bitcoin Cash’s Fork Worth the Market Hype?
Fork’s are always important to pay attention to because they fundamentally change how a cryptocurrency community operates. There are different degrees of forks. For instance, there are hard forks and soft forks, and sometimes two coins are created as a result of the split. This was seen in Bitcoin Cash’s fork during August of 2017. […]
Fork’s are always important to pay attention to because they fundamentally change how a cryptocurrency community operates. There are different degrees of forks. For instance, there are hard forks and soft forks, and sometimes two coins are created as a result of the split. This was seen in Bitcoin Cash’s fork during August of 2017. Not only is the blockchain altered, but there is often an increase in price leading up to the actual fork. Why is this? Because people are greedy. They think, ‘If I buy Bitcoin Cash now and it has a hard fork, maybe I will get free coins with the next fork.’ Realistically, nothing is free and as of now, it is still unclear whether or not there will be two different coins as a result of the fork.
One of the significant features of the hard fork is known as Spedn. Spedn is a smart contract programming language for Bitcoin Cash. It is important to note that existing Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin smart contracts are very rudimentary when compared to Ethereum. This is because Ethereum smart contracts are Turing complete.
Spedn was created to make it simpler for developers to program on Bitcoin Cash. Previously, the only language to program on both Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash was Script, which is a very difficult and low-level programming language. Script is somewhat similar to Assembly or other low-level languages. Spedn is a layer which is added on top of Script. When a programmer develops on Spedn, their program is converted into Script. This is not the only upgrade Bitcoin Cash is pushing in their new fork.
But what is the ideological split within the Bitcoin Cash community? Roger Ver on one hand, is in favor of smart contracts as well as ICOs on the Bitcoin Cash blockchain. Overall, this faction of Bitcoin Cash wants to make the blockchain more flexible. However, the other faction in the Bitcoin Cash community believes otherwise. Craig Wright is a prominent figure in the Bitcoin Cash community who is advocating for BCH to remain the same. Calvin Ayre is another prominent figure in BCH who is against the upcoming fork.
This split is somewhat ironic because in the summer of 2017, Bitcoin was implementing features such as Segwit and the Lightning Network. While the Bitcoin Core developers went ahead with these updates, Roger Ver and Bitcoin Cash wanted a different system. They argued that the new Bitcoin was not the true “Satoshi vision”. This idea of “the true Satoshi vision” is problematic because there is no such thing as Satoshi’s vision. Satoshi left Bitcoin so that no one could claim they knew what Satoshi wanted. Bitcoin is not supposed to have a head, it is not supposed to be controlled, it is only supposed to grow based on how the market values it.
Now Bitcoin Cash has Satoshi’s vision within Satoshi’s vision. Therefore, it is likely that this fighting will never end because someone will always claim their version of Bitcoin is the real Satoshi vision.
Many newcomers wonder who determines which chain is used after a fork? In this case, it is determined by the miners. This is also commonly referred to as Nakamoto Consensus. Basically, miners will start picking sides after the fork. The chain with the most miners and the most hash power will grow faster than the other chain. The chain with the highest difficulty, is then considered the true chain. Whichever chain gains the most hash power will win out to Nakamoto Consensus. Typically, there is always two coins created as a result of a fork. As of now, it is still undetermined whether or not there will be two coins as a result of the fork.
So how are the exchanges going to respond? According to Coinbase, they will make sure clients get both coins as a result of the split. Their support page states the following,
“When the upgrade is complete, we will evaluate the network and take appropriate next steps, including re-enabling sends and receives. We will update our customers throughout the upgrade process and about the outcome of the fork once the network reaches consensus. In the unlikely event that multiple viable chains persist after the fork, Coinbase will ensure that customers have access to their funds on each chain.”
Historically, these type of events usually lead to a parabolic upswing followed by a parabolic downswing. In 2014, Bitcoin rallied and topped on November 15th. A large sell off continued into January of 2015. During this time, Bitcoin lost over 65% of its value.
Due to the mindless buying leading up to the BCH fork, Bitcoin Cash has increase from around $400 to $650. It is uncanny that the Bitcoin Cash fork is scheduled for November 15th, the same date that the Bitcoin topped in 2014. It is hard to know for certain whether or not Bitcoin follows patterns of seasonality. This is because it is only 9 years old. However, some may like to consider these factors.
Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor. This is not financial advice. Please do your research independently and make objective decisions. This article is intended to educate readers on the recent state of the BCH fork. The author of the article owns cryptocurrency.
Additional Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IR2fk4qX1Y&ab_channel=IvanonTech