What is Bitcoin Cash? Bitcoin Cash is a decentralized, permissionless cryptocurrency created on 1 August 2017 through a hard fork of Bitcoin at block 478,558. It was designed to function as peer-to-peer electronic cash, with larger on-chain capacity intended to support low-cost everyday payments.
Core technology and blockchain architecture
Bitcoin Cash uses a Bitcoin-derived UTXO model. Transactions spend unspent transaction outputs secured by digital signatures, rather than updating account balances. The network uses SHA-256 proof-of-work, targets roughly 10-minute blocks, and initially increased block capacity to 8 MB before raising it to 32 MB in May 2018.
The Adaptive Blocksize Limit Algorithm, or ABLA, activated in 2024 and allows permitted block capacity to adjust progressively with network usage. BCH also supports Schnorr signatures, introduced in May 2019, and the ASERT difficulty-adjustment algorithm, activated in November 2020.
CashTokens, activated in May 2023, provide native support for fungible tokens, non-fungible tokens, tokenized assets, loyalty points and other application-specific assets. Earlier token activity used the Simple Ledger Protocol and OP_RETURN transaction data.
Primary uses and applications
The main use case is direct digital payment without a bank or card intermediary. BCH can be used for retail purchases, online checkout, donations, tipping, remittances and cross-border transfers. Larger blocks and the payment-focused design aim to keep routine on-chain transactions inexpensive.
Merchant integrations include BitPay checkout and card-related services. Paytaca provides a non-custodial wallet, payment tools and a Payment Hub for BCH invoices and merchant APIs. CashTokens also support token marketplaces, collectibles, decentralized applications and decentralized finance. Cauldron is a decentralized exchange built around BCH and CashTokens.
Who is behind Bitcoin Cash and where is it based?
Bitcoin Cash emerged from a coalition of developers, miners, businesses and advocates who supported larger blocks during the Bitcoin scaling debate. Amaury Séchet, known as “deadalnix,” was a principal early developer of Bitcoin ABC. Roger Ver was a prominent public advocate, while Bitcoin Unlimited and other mining and development groups influenced the broader launch movement.
The network has no single confirmed founder, headquarters or operating country. Development is distributed among independent projects including Bitcoin Cash Node, Bitcoin ABC, Bitcoin Unlimited, Flowee, Bitcoin Verde, Knuth and Electron Cash. The Bitcoin Cash Foundation is a community outreach organization, but its own materials state that it does not control the protocol. No single legal company or foundation with jurisdiction-wide control over BCH is confirmed by the cited sources.
Tokenomics and distribution
Bitcoin Cash inherited Bitcoin’s 21-million-coin maximum supply and scheduled issuance. The block subsidy is reduced by half every 210,000 blocks. BCH halvings occurred in April 2020, reducing the reward to 6.25 BCH, and April 2024, reducing it to 3.125 BCH. The next halving is projected around 2028 at block 1,050,000, with a 1.5625 BCH subsidy.
At the 2017 fork, Bitcoin holders were generally entitled to corresponding BCH balances, subject to wallet access, private-key control and exchange support. New coins enter circulation through mining rewards, while subsequent distribution occurs through transfers, trading and payments. CoinStats reports 20,096,616 BCH circulating and 20,096,903 BCH total supply.
Consensus, security and market position
Miners compete to solve SHA-256 hashes and append valid blocks. Nodes independently verify proof-of-work, signatures, UTXO availability, scripts, block structure and monetary rules. The chain with the greatest accumulated proof-of-work is accepted, making security dependent on mining participation, node validation and the economic cost of acquiring hashpower.
CoinStats recorded a price of $306.08, a 24h change of -0.65%, a market cap of $6.15B (rank #27), and 24h volume of $253.45M on 1 October 2026 at 00:27 UTC. The all-time high is $3,785.82, the current price is 91.92% below it.
Competitive position and development
BCH’s distinctive value proposition is permissionless, low-cost settlement directly on a public blockchain. Its advantages include a fixed monetary policy, mature UTXO architecture, native CashTokens and multiple independent node implementations. Its limitations include competition from Bitcoin, stablecoins and smart-contract networks, along with dependence on mining economics, liquidity, merchant adoption and continued infrastructure development.
Development follows the Bitcoin Cash Improvement Proposal, or CHIP, process. The May 2025 upgrade added BigInt and virtual-machine limit changes. The May 2026 upgrade specification included Pay to Script, functions, bitwise operations and bounded loops. A proposal to reduce block intervals from roughly 10 minutes to 2 minutes remains a future roadmap item rather than an active consensus rule.