In August 2017, the controversy over Bitcoin\u2019s scalability issues led to its blockchain being split for the first time in history, resulting in its first hard fork \u2014 Bitcoin Cash BCH<\/a> (BCH).<\/span><\/p>\n Bitcoin Cash was a cryptocurrency with a purpose. Its proponents wanted a digital currency that would reduce high transaction fees associated with Bitcoin (BTC), making everyday use of cryptocurrencies viable. This was to be achieved by increasing the block size limits of Bitcoin\u2019s blockchain from 1 MB to 8 MB (later to 32 MB).<\/span><\/p>\n Ever since its conception, Bitcoin Cash proponents have been clashing with Bitcoin proponents who favored SegWit and Lightning Network as better solutions to the apex cryptocurrency\u2019s scalability problems rather than a hard fork.<\/span><\/p>\n This was until August 2018 when Bitcoin Cash got caught in a civil war, again over block size limits. The result was a split of Bitcoin Cash into two rivaling cryptocurrencies in November \u2014 Bitcoin ABC (backed by Roger Ver and Bitmain\u2019s Jihan Wu) and Bitcoin SV (backed by Craig Wright) which would maintain block sizes of 32 MB and 128 MB respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n With the support of a majority of exchange desks, Bitcoin ABC became the new Bitcoin Cash (BCH) post the split, and Bitcoin SV became a separate cryptocurrency with the BSV ticker.<\/span><\/p>\n BCH opened for trading for the first time on August 1, 2017 at $<\/span>294.60. By January 1, 2018, it was trading at $2,534.82 \u2014 a 760 percent increase! The overwhelming gain in price by early 2018 can be accredited to the \u201ccrypto boom\u201d of November-December 2017 that saw prices of all\u00a0cryptocurrencies rise.<\/span><\/p>\n BCH maintained some stability in its price for the first half of January consolidating around $2,500, with support and resistance levels around $2,800 and $2,400.<\/span><\/p>\n On January 16, BCH saw a sharp decline of 26 percent in market price falling to $1,772. This fall marked the beginning of the market-wide correction in cryptocurrency prices.<\/span><\/p>\n The market recovered briefly towards the end of April but saw continuous decline ever since until November 14, when BCH split into two cryptocurrencies.<\/span><\/p>\n BCH lost its market capitalization at a higher rate than BTC highlighting that the losses weren\u2019t just a result of cryptocurrency market sentiments but also of individual performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n BCH was worth 0.181 BTC at the start of the year but fell to 0.093 BTC by April. It made a recovery in the middle of May and regained the original price it began the year with. But the spike would last short, and BCH\/BTC continued to drop through the rest of the year. By November 14, it was worth 0.077 BTC, a 57 percent drop since the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n A stark difference in market movements could be seen as a result of the hard fork on November 15.<\/span><\/p>\n BCH closed on $425.01 on November 14, and the two resultant cryptocurrencies were trading at $ 289 (BCH or Bitcoin ABC) and $ 96.50 ( BSV or Bitcoin SV) on November 15. This was a significant market loss for BCH as the two cryptocurrencies combined couldn\u2019t make up to BCH\u2019s market price the day before.<\/span><\/p>\n This is in contrast to BCH\u2019s own split from BTC in 2017 when the price of the two cryptocurrencies combined was worth more than the price of BTC alone, resulting in a gain for BTC owners.<\/span><\/p>\n As of December first week, BSV is maintaining its price around $90, while BCH (ABC) has fallen further to the lowest ever at $125.<\/span><\/p>\n Taken together, they mark a 90 percent decrease in BCH price since the beginning of the year.<\/span><\/p>\n Bitcoin Cash had a decent start in 2018, having gotten listed on Coinbase\u2019s cryptocurrency exchange desk GDAX in December 2017. The initial demand was so high \u2014 in comparison to sell orders being placed on the exchange \u2014 that Coinbase had to <\/span>abruptly disable<\/span><\/a> its trading, although insider trading was suspected.<\/span><\/p>\n Soon after, fear over crackdowns in <\/span>China<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>South Korea<\/span><\/a> took over the cryptocurrency market, and BCH couldn\u2019t escape the fate either, effectively ending its bull run.<\/span><\/p>\n In February, decentralized marketplace OpenBazaar added support for BCH on its platform. In March, Goldman-Sachs backed <\/span>Circle<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Abra<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Grayscale Investments <\/span><\/a>began offering BCH on their respective investment platforms.<\/span><\/p>\n The US-based financial services company Robinhood also <\/span>started offering<\/span><\/a> no-fee trading of BCH on its mobile app in July.<\/span><\/p>\n There were frequent clashes between the Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash camps throughout the year, with members of cryptocurrency community picking sides.<\/span><\/p>\n The insistence of the Bitcoin Cash camp led by Roger Ver to refer to Bitcoin as \u201cBitcoin Core\u201d was rejected by the cryptocurrency community and exchanges.<\/span><\/p>\n Further technical differences between the Bitcoin Cash developers hampered their united fight against Bitcoin.<\/p>\n In August, Bitcoin ABC announced<\/a> a software upgrade for Bitcoin Cash with a smart contract feature to allow developers to build applications over its blockchain. This move was met with resistance led by self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator Craig Wright and cryptocurrency news website Coingeek, who launched their own Bitcoin Cash implementation called Bitcoin SV, with the aim of increasing scalability and transaction speeds.<\/p>\n The incompatibility of the two implementations ultimately resulted in a hard fork in November. The ensuing war over gaining computing power (hash) between the two offshoots has cost billions of dollars, according<\/a> to Bloomberg.<\/p>\n As of December 2018, neither of the off-shoots has managed to emerge as a clear winner in terms of the computing power they control. This war is likely to continue at least in the first quarter of 2019. The dominant coin will benefit from attracting more developers, miners, and investors, establishing itself as the main chain.<\/p>\n The former BCH didn\u2019t prove effective in offering better transaction value than BTC, and its overall transaction volume remained significantly low. In the absence of proving actual utility in improving transaction efficiency, BCH (ABC) and BSV\u2019s prospects aren\u2019t looking good either.<\/p>\n The two coins will find it difficult to recover the market capitalization lost in 2018 due to the hard fork. If price movements in 2018 are any indication, both coins are at risk of further losing relative value to BTC in 2019.<\/p>\n Now that you have actionable information on the future of\u00a0Bitcoin Cash<\/a>,<\/span>\u00a0it\u2019s time to start investing. With\u00a0<\/span>eToro<\/a>, a leading social trading platform, you can trade manually or copy the actions taken by leading traders, taking much of the stress and work out of your investments.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nBCH\/USD Performance Review<\/h2>\n
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BCH \u2014 Major events in 2018<\/h2>\n
What to expect in 2019<\/h2>\n
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