Bitcoin Cash is an offshoot of Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency. The growth and popularity of Bitcoin came challenges such as the duration of processing transactions and the costs associated with the said transactions. Finding solutions to these challenges made it necessary for the Bitcoin network to undergo a Hard Fork since the network members could not agree on a single course of action. With the hard fork came another cryptocurrency; Bitcoin Cash.

What I Bitcoin Cash?

Bitcoin Cash, known in crypto circles as Bcash was launched in August 2017 from a Bitcoin fork. It operates both as a payment network as well as a cryptocurrency. The main unit of transaction in the Bitcoin Cash network is BCH.

The objective of setting up the Bitcoin Cash network was to amend the challenges that the Bitcoin network experiences. The speed of the Bitcoin network is just 8 transactions a second. Besides, the increased costs of transacting especially when the system is clogged and the cumbersome process of scalability pushed the community members to look for solutions. The community found a solution alright but could not unanimously agree to adopt it.

A faction wanted the Bitcoin code amended to increase the block sizes. Doing so would make the platform better at handling transactions. The other faction wanted status quo. The split ended in a hard fork with the reformists creating Bcash as a peer-to-peer digital cash platform with better prospects than the parent Bitcoin network.;

What are the Objectives of Bitcoin Cash?

Incidentally, Bitcoin Cash did not come into the picture to reinvent the wheel. Instead, it stuck to the core objectives that Satoshi Nakamoto set out in the original Bitcoin whitepaper; Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. However, the technical design and architecture of the platform introduced some technological twists to these goals.

The Bcash network developers, for instance, think that to attain the goal of electronic cash, technology must strive to drastically improve transaction speeds. The proponents of Bcash believe that creating genuine digital money is so important that if the goal means compromising the Bitcoin code then so be it.

To work towards the goal of improving transaction speeds, Bcash proponents pushed for BCH to be an everyday currency rather than a store of value. This points to a slight shift in the objective of the Bitcoin network.

Also, the Bcash development team increased the block sizes from 1MB to 8MB initially. The change, they figured, would help the Bcash system hasten the process of verifying transactions. Increasing the block size also created different but adjustable levels of difficulty in the network. The proponents of Bcash think that the efforts towards the scalability of Bitcoin are nonexistent and such a situation undermines the vision of greater decentralization.

The general idea is to make the Bcash network less dependent on the effort of miners as is the case with Bitcoin. Changing the code was also meant to make it easy to transfer coins among cryptocurrency exchanges.

Other Technologies Introduced to the Bcash Network

Aside from increasing the block sizes to improve the duration of the transaction, the Bcash network also introduced Replay as well as Wipeout Protection technologies. Replay Protection is applicable in a situation where a user holds multiple coins on numerous chains after a fork.

A replay attack can happen when a user with coins in one chain wants to transact when his or her action is mirrored on another chain. The Replay protection technology allows the transaction to proceed without interruption.

The Bcash network also introduced a new type of transaction that is safe from quadratic hashing and has input value signing. All these additions were aimed at improving the efficiency of the Bcash network.

The Bitcoin Cash Roadmap

According to the legend on the official Bcash website, the goal is to ensure that Bitcoin Cash is sound money that everyone in the world can use for day-to-day transactions. The legend goes on to say that the network is a civilization-changing technology whose purpose is to increase the freedom and prosperity to mankind enjoys.

The roadmap consists of three key segments; the work that the team has completed, what it is working on, and the projects planned for the future.

According to this program, the completed improvements include a couple of scaling work, a similar number of projects that improve the network’s usability, and three projects that refine extensibility.

The scalability projects include the implementation of the transaction ordering system and batched signature validations. The development team is currently working on hastening block propagation and inputting UTXO commitment or block pruning.

In the future, scalability will be improved by incorporating the Merklix-Metadata tree and inputting market-driven block sizes. This should see the block sizes grow to 1TB.

To improve usability, the development team has added a CashAddr which is easier and safer for the user. The team has also incorporated Sighash, which is a hardware wallet security feature. It is currently working on reducing the transaction fee and incorporating Pre-consensus which will bring about near-instant security. In the future, the team plans to introduce fractional Satoshis.

In the area of extensibility, where a lot of work seems to have happened, the team has managed to incorporate Basic Opcodes, as well as OP_RETURN at 223 bytes. Besides, OP_CHECKDATASIG is also in place. The former enhances the use of social networks on the chain while the latter runs Oracles and advanced scripts. As such, it makes the network more adaptive.

More Basic Opcodes are being incorporated while a new transaction format that has improved abilities and is considerably more compact is nearing completion.

In the end, the platform should afford to complete 50 transactions per day per person for a population of about 10 billion people. Besides, it should achieve the best money status where transactions take three seconds or less to complete and at considerably lower fees. Lastly, it should boost the token economy by supporting every class of token that is currently traded on the blockchain.

Bitcoin Cash – Common Man’s Platform

Bitcoin Cash touts itself as an accessible platform. On the backdrop of the prohibitive nature of the Bitcoin environment, especially for new entries, Bcash championed for larger block sizes to facilitate faster and cheaper transactions.

The considerably lower transaction fees help both merchants and ordinary users, and in the process helps Bcash attain global adoption. The increased block sizes do not only serve the interest of users but also the miners. A bigger block size translates into considerably heftier rewards for mining every block.

How to Use Bcash Anonymously

The issue many novice cryptocurrency enthusiasts grapple with is how to use cryptocurrencies anonymously and privately. Luckily for this lot, Bcash is one among the very few crypto coins that you can mix using the world’s best Bitcoin mixer without necessarily converting it to Bitcoin.

Coin mixing refers to the process of putting your cryptocurrencies through a crypto tumbler before transferring them to a secure and discreet wallet. You can then use such coins to complete a transaction without the fear of being tracked. The reason for doing so is to obscure your cryptocurrency transactions.

Some of the leading Bitcoin tumblers offer mixing services mostly for Bitcoin, and probably Ethereum. People that are averse to the charges that crypto tumblers charge prefer to use near-anonymous cryptocurrencies such as Zcash and Monero.

Mixing Bitcoin Cash for Anonymous Transactions

SmartMixer is easily the net’s best Bitcoin mixer. This is so because when it was launched, it had the most diverse number of crypto coins for a Bitcoin tumbler of its caliber. The crypto tumbler mixes up to 120 BTC (well above the market average) worth of Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash.

If you want to use Bcash anonymously, simply navigate to the SmartMixer platform and key in the address of the discreet Bitcoin Cash wallet where you would want the clean, untraceable coins to be sent. Then, submit the coins you want the platform to mix, and set out the mixing parameters you prefer. Having done the above, you can now wait for the platform to remit the coins into the address you provided after it completes the mixing process.

You can then use the said coins to complete cryptocurrency transactions. After using the crypto tumbler to mix your BCH, your transactions thereafter will remain obscure even to individuals that employ the latest blockchain analysis tools.

How to Buy, Store or Sell BCH

Buying BCH

If you are captivated by what you have learned this far and would like to hold a few units of BCH, then you should not worry. The coin is listed on numerous cryptocurrency exchanges.

While buying cryptocurrencies is a complicated process especially for newbies, this step-by-step guide will help you get your hands on your first coins. Aside from that, you will know how to buy BCH using either cash or cryptocurrency, and send the coins you buy to the address that you will set up.

The general steps look something like this:

• Create a user’s account on a cryptocurrency exchange. The internet is full of these. However, the credible platforms are Coinbase, Kraken, CEX, Paybis, Binance, Changelly, Coinmama, and Huobi, to name just a few.
• Verify the account and enable two-factor authentication to make it more secure.
• Fund the account by depositing money from your preferred payment method.
• Search for BCH among the listed assets.
• Key in the amount of BCH units you would like to buy.
• Review the detail of the transaction you have entered.
• Click on “buy” to complete the transaction.

Note that when you create an account in an exchange, you automatically are assigned cryptocurrency wallets supported by the said exchange.

Storing BCH

Once you have bought some units of BCH, you must get a secure place to store them. Note that you can opt to keep your cryptocurrencies in the wallet generated by the exchange. It is important to know, however, that doing so is not recommended because exchanges are a hot target for hackers. Also, the user does not get to control the keys of the address.

Several secure wallets that grant you full control over your assets are available. It is recommended that you choose from among these secure wallets. They include hardware wallets such as TREZOR and Ledger Nano S, mobile infrastructure such as Coinomi, and multi-platform wallets such as Jaxx.

Before buying any cryptocurrency, note that these assets are risky, complicated, and speculative.

Selling BCH

Bitcoin Cash currently is the fourth cryptocurrency by market capitalization. As at the time of doing this guide (Friday, February 28, 2020, 20:54 UTC), The coin’s circulation was just over 18.3 million with a market cap of over $5.6 billion. During the said time, 1 BCH was trading at $312.

If you have BCH that you are looking to dispose of then it is highly likely that you already know about wallets and exchanges.

You can sell your BCH holding for either fiat or other cryptocurrencies. The exchanges that allow BCH to fiat transactions include Coinbase, Kraken, and CEX. If you do not prefer to divulge too much personal data or even verify your identity, for that matter, then you may consider using ShapeShift or Changelly.

Aside from the above approaches, you can also sell your BCH peer-to-peer using LocalBitcoinCash which brings together users that prefer direct trades. While here, you can either post your trade or respond to an offer that has been posted by another user.

Lastly, join Meetup.com, an online tool that can help you get Bitcoin Cash meetups where you can find enthusiasts willing to buy your coins in a safe environment.

In Summary

Bitcoin Cash is the future of money. It advocates for faster cryptocurrency transactions that are also cheaper. In this regard, the platform seeks to make cryptocurrencies the usual medium for conducting day-to-day transactions. The advances that have been undertaken on the platform to address the shortfalls of Bitcoin may see BCH adopted as the coin for everyday transactions.