Bitcoin Cash Explained: A Bitcoin Fork Built for Speed and Low Fees

Background of BCH’s Creation

(Source: bitcoincashorg)

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) launched in August 2017, emerging from persistent disagreements within the Bitcoin community over how to scale the network. As Bitcoin adoption grew, the network faced slow transaction speeds and rising fees. Some community members argued that, for Bitcoin to serve as a practical, everyday payment method, on-chain transaction capacity needed to be expanded directly.

In response, BCH was created through a hard fork, opting for larger block sizes to address Bitcoin’s payment efficiency bottleneck with a more straightforward technical solution.

Technical Design Approach

At its core, BCH operates much like Bitcoin, utilizing a decentralized blockchain structure and Proof of Work (PoW) consensus. The primary difference is BCH’s larger block size, enabling each block to process more transactions and boosting the network’s overall throughput.

In practice, BCH confirms transactions faster than BTC, supports higher transactions per second, and maintains relatively low transaction fees. This design makes BCH better suited for real-time payments and micro-transfers. However, BCH’s performance still falls short of centralized payment systems like Visa, underscoring the structural scalability challenges that public blockchains face.

Divergence Between BCH and BTC

Over time, BTC and BCH have taken on distinct roles in the market. With support from the community and institutional investors, Bitcoin is increasingly positioned as digital gold, valued for its scarcity and long-term store of value rather than frequent transactions. In contrast, BCH continues to focus on low fees and fast transfers, aiming to fulfill the role of everyday payments and on-chain cash. This divergence has resulted in clear differences in market perception and capital flow: BTC remains dominant, while BCH, despite its cost advantages, has struggled to challenge Bitcoin’s mainstream status.

Market Positioning and Real-World Usage

Currently, BCH is primarily seen as a functional asset in the crypto market, rather than a core portfolio holding. Some users select BCH for cross-border payments, remittances, or for testing on-chain applications, leveraging its low-cost advantages in specific situations.

The gap between BCH and BTC has widened in terms of market capitalization, liquidity, and ecosystem scale. Most investors continue to prefer Bitcoin, while BCH serves as a complementary asset in payment-focused niche markets.

If you want to explore more Web3 content, click to register: https://www.gate.com/

Conclusion

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) emerged as a fork during the scaling debate, with its core value centered on faster and cheaper on-chain transactions. By increasing block size, BCH has delivered greater efficiency and lower costs compared to Bitcoin, echoing the original vision of peer-to-peer electronic cash from the Bitcoin whitepaper. As the market narrative pivots toward value storage and institutional adoption, BCH’s payment-focused approach has become a less mainstream option. Still, for users who prioritize transaction speed and low fees, BCH remains a practical tool and continues to offer a distinct path for cryptocurrency ecosystem development.