Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

What Bitcoin Cash is

Bitcoin Cash is a proof of work blockchain that split from Bitcoin in 2017 and kept the shared transaction history up to that point. Its ticker is BCH. The project positions itself as cash rather than as a reserve asset, using the tagline "better money for the world" and listing four properties on its front page: "no overdrafts," "no borders," "no chargebacks," "no frozen funds" (bch.info, as of September 2026).

The technical difference that motivated the split is block capacity. Bitcoin Cash raised the limit on how much transaction data fits in a block, and has raised it repeatedly since.

How it works

Bitcoin Cash uses the same broad design as its parent chain. Miners compete to find a hash below a target, and the project's protocol documentation describes it as using "a hashcash-like algorithm as a primary metric for validating new blocks" (reference.cash, September 2026). Difficulty adjusts to keep blocks arriving at an average of ten minutes.

That difficulty adjustment is one of the network's more consequential pieces of engineering. A minority chain sharing an algorithm with a much larger chain is exposed to miners switching between them, which can leave blocks stranded for hours if difficulty only recalculates on a long schedule. Bitcoin Cash uses a difficulty adjustment algorithm designed to respond quickly to changes in hash rate, documented as its own component in the protocol specification (documentation.cash, September 2026).

Capacity is where Bitcoin Cash diverges most visibly. The reference node software sets a default maximum block size of 32 megabytes, against a legacy limit of 1 megabyte inherited from before the 2017 fork. The code also defines a 2 gigabyte hard ceiling on consensus block size, described in the source as a temporary measure to avoid failures on 32-bit and 64-bit platforms (Bitcoin Cash Node consensus source, September 2026).

Since Upgrade 10, that limit is not a fixed number chosen by developers. An adaptive blocksize limit algorithm adjusts the cap in response to actual network demand, so capacity grows when blocks are consistently full rather than waiting for a scheduled hard fork.

Other consensus constants are set in the same source file. Signature checking is metered rather than counted loosely: a transaction may contain at most 3,000 sigchecks, and the per-block allowance scales with block size at a ratio of one sigcheck per 141 bytes. The maximum transaction size is 1 megabyte, and since Upgrade 9 the minimum is 65 bytes. Coinbase outputs mature after 100 blocks before they can be spent.

Bitcoin Cash also supports CashTokens, a token issuance capability built into the base layer rather than added as a smart contract standard.

Supply and tokenomics

Miners earn the block subsidy plus transaction fees, and that is the entire flow of new coins.

Fees on Bitcoin Cash are a function of transaction size in bytes and available block space. Because the block size limit is high relative to typical demand, and because the adaptive algorithm raises it as demand grows, the network does not normally run a congested fee market. This is the intended outcome of the design rather than a coincidence: the capacity choice is what the fork was about.

Every coin is spendable only with the corresponding private key, and self-custody works the same way as on the parent chain. See self custody and hardware wallet for the mechanics.

History

The split happened in August 2017 through what the protocol documentation records as BCH-UAHF, a user-activated hard fork, the first entry in Bitcoin Cash's catalog of network upgrades (documentation.cash, September 2026). The dispute that produced it was about how to scale: whether to keep base-layer blocks small and move volume to second layers, or to raise the block size limit directly. Bitcoin Cash took the second position.

The chain has hard-forked on a regular cadence since, and the upgrade list runs continuously from 2017 through HF-20230515 and beyond. Notable changes include the replacement of the original difficulty adjustment algorithm, the addition of CashTokens, and the adaptive blocksize limit algorithm introduced in Upgrade 10, which moved capacity from a hand-set constant to a demand-driven formula.

Bitcoin Cash has itself been the origin of further splits, as groups disagreeing with a given upgrade have separated onto their own chains. This is a structural feature of a network that upgrades by scheduled hard fork rather than by soft fork.

Risks and what to watch

The central risk for any minority proof-of-work chain is hash rate. Bitcoin Cash shares its mining algorithm with a substantially larger network, which means hash power can move between them based on profitability. Fast difficulty adjustment mitigates the disruption but does not change the underlying security budget, which is smaller than that of the chain it split from. Exchanges commonly require more confirmation depth for BCH deposits for this reason.

Scheduled hard forks are a governance risk as well as an upgrade mechanism. Each upgrade requires the ecosystem to move together, and past disagreements have produced further chain splits. Before an upgrade, check that the wallet and exchange you use have stated their support.

Large blocks shift cost onto anyone running a full node, because storing and validating more data requires more hardware and bandwidth. The 2 gigabyte consensus ceiling in the code is explicitly labeled as a stopgap against platform limits, which is a reminder that raising capacity is not free at the infrastructure layer.

Ticker confusion is a practical hazard. BCH, BTC and other forks with similar names are separate assets on separate chains, and sending one to an address for another can result in permanent loss. Availability of BCH also varies by venue and region; see where to buy Bitcoin Cash and Exchanges.

Frequently asked questions

How is Bitcoin Cash different from Bitcoin?

The two chains share history up to the August 2017 fork and then diverged. Bitcoin Cash raised the block size limit and has continued to raise it, with a 32 megabyte default in the reference node software and an adaptive algorithm that adjusts the cap with demand. The design goal is low fees for everyday payments at the base layer.

Did holders of Bitcoin receive Bitcoin Cash?

Because the chain split from a common ledger, coins that existed before the fork height exist on both chains and are controlled by the same keys. Whether an individual holder could access their Bitcoin Cash depended on who held the keys at the time and on the policy of any custodian holding the coins on their behalf.

How large can a Bitcoin Cash block be?

The reference node software sets a 32 megabyte default and defines a 2 gigabyte hard consensus ceiling, described in the source as a temporary safeguard against platform limits. Since Upgrade 10, an adaptive blocksize limit algorithm adjusts the effective limit in response to network demand.

Is Bitcoin Cash mined?

Yes. Bitcoin Cash is a proof-of-work chain using a hashcash-style algorithm, with difficulty targeting an average of ten minutes per block. Miners receive the block subsidy plus transaction fees. There is no staking on the network.

What are CashTokens?

CashTokens is Bitcoin Cash's native token capability, added through a network upgrade. It allows tokens to be issued and transferred using base-layer consensus rules rather than through a separate smart contract platform.