What Is Bitcoin Cash (BCH)?

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a cryptocurrency made for fast, low-cost peer-to-peer payments. It aims to work like digital cash for day-to-day spending.

Bitcoin Cash runs on a public blockchain and traces back to Bitcoin’s early codebase, having launched after a hard fork on August 1, 2017. The network uses larger blocks to fit more transactions. It targets low fees and quick confirmations, designed to match various payment use cases.

What is BCH? The ticker symbol of Bitcoin Cash, sometimes also referred to as Bcash.

Table of contents:

Key Points:

• BCH started on August 1, 2017, as a hard fork from Bitcoin at block 478,559.
• It launched to address Bitcoin congestion and rising fees during busy periods.
• It keeps a 21 million supply cap and a 10-minute block target.
• People use it for payments, e-commerce, microtransactions, and cross-border transfers.
• Businesses can accept BCH through compliant crypto infrastructure, including CoinsPaid.

What is Bitcoin Cash in simple terms

Think of Bitcoin Cash as digital cash you can send online. A wallet signs the payment, broadcasts it to the network, and miners record it on the blockchain. This process lets people and businesses send value to each other without banks or card networks.

Bitcoin Cash works in three parts:

• It records transactions on a public blockchain that anyone can check.
• It uses cryptography to secure transfers and prevent double-spending.
• It supports global payments without a single operator controlling the network.

This way, a user in Europe can send Bitcoin Cash to a freelancer in Asia within minutes, without having to worry about cross-border spreads or bank hours. Many merchants choose BCH for fast checkout, payouts, and cross-border settlements.

Why Bitcoin Cash Was Created

Bitcoin Cash was created during a long debate about Bitcoin scaling. Bitcoin blocks were limited in size, and busy periods pushed fees up, and confirmations slowed down. Users ran into three pain points:

• Longer wait periods for transactions;
• Higher fees for simple transfers;
• Payments that could cost more than the item.

One group wanted to keep small on-chain blocks and rely more on upgrades like SegWit and second-layer networks. Another group wanted larger on-chain blocks so the base layer could handle more payments directly.

Bitcoin Cash followed the larger-block path. The fork activated on August 1, 2017. From that day, BTC and BCH became separate networks with separate rules and separate coins. Anyone who controlled bitcoin private keys at the time of the split held coins on both chains.

Bitcoin Cash raised the block size limit, so each block could carry more transactions. The goal was to stick close to the peer-to-peer cash idea from Bitcoin’s early design.

After the split, BTC and BCH followed separate rules and separate roadmaps. Bitcoin Cash went through more forks in later years. A November 15, 2018 split created Bitcoin SV (BSV). Later, in November 2020, another split separated Bitcoin Cash Node and Bitcoin Cash ABC, which later rebranded as eCash (XEC).

How Bitcoin Cash Works

Bitcoin Cash uses a UTXO model. Each transaction spends earlier outputs and creates new outputs that belong to wallet addresses.

The network uses proof-of-work to agree on one shared history. Miners compete to add the next block, and difficulty adjusts over time so blocks arrive about every 10 minutes. Bitcoin Cash keeps the core Bitcoin design, then updates rules through scheduled network upgrades. These upgrades can add new features without changing the coin supply cap.

Block Size and Transaction Speed

Bitcoin Cash increased block capacity to fit more transactions per block. Bigger blocks reduce the chance of a backlog during peak usage. Today, the network is widely described as having a 32 MB block size limit. In practice, real blocks are often smaller than the cap, so the chain has room for growth.

Block size does not set your payment speed on its own. Speed depends on how fast miners include your transaction in a block. Higher capacity makes that inclusion easier during busy periods.

For merchants, the practical benefit is steadier fees and fewer delays on routine payments. This matters for checkout flows where customers expect a quick result.

Fees and Confirmation Times

Bitcoin Cash fees come from the network because miners need to have an incentive for adding information to blocks. With more block capacity, BCH fees often stay low. The fee can still change during extreme demand, but day-to-day transfers often cost very little in network fees, usually 10 or more times cheaper than Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Cash targets a 10-minute block interval, so the first confirmation often takes minutes to about an hour, depending on timing and network conditions. Some merchants accept zero-confirmation payments for low-value items. This choice raises risk, since an attacker can try a double-spend. Regardless, the network is relatively fast as it stands, though networks like Solana are a lot faster.

What Is BCH Used For

Bitcoin Cash is used for payments and settlement. People use it when they want a transfer that works across borders, quickly, and reliably.

Common use cases include:

• Payments, online as a website integration, and in-person via PoS or directly to wallets.
• E-commerce checkout where merchants want fast settlement and no card chargebacks.
• Cross-border payouts to contractors and suppliers.
• Microtransactions like tips, game items, and digital content.
• Token use cases after the CashTokens upgrade in 2023, including simple token issuance and on-chain commitments.

BCH does not force a single use case. People treat it as spendable crypto. Some users hold it long term, but the design focus is primarily around payments.

Bitcoin Cash vs Bitcoin

BTC and BCH share early history. They split in 2017 and took different paths.

Bitcoin Cash aims to stay spendable. Bitcoin is often held as a long-term asset or a form of ‘digital gold’.

Real-World Bitcoin Cash Use Cases

Bitcoin Cash is used in situations that need speed and low fees.

• Online retail. Merchants accept BCH to settle fast and avoid card chargebacks.
• Donations. Non-profits accept BCH to receive funds with fewer intermediaries.
• International freelancers. Freelancers receive BCH from clients abroad without bank delays.
• Point-of-sale payments. Some stores accept BCH for in-person payments, where supported.

Bitcoin Cash is most often used for payments that need quick settlement and low fees. For day-to-day operations, many businesses use dedicated crypto infrastructure, not personal wallets – and automatically exchange BCH into stablecoins like USDC or EURC.

Advantages and Limitations of Bitcoin Cash

Bitcoin Cash has clear strengths for payments. It has trade-offs that matter for business planning.

Crypto Infrastructure for Business Payments

Businesses need more than a website and wallet address for accepting BCH at scale. Most teams are looking for clear flows, accounting exports, access control, and risk rules. A typical business payment flow looks like this:

• Your checkout creates an invoice in BCH at a set exchange rate.
• The customer sends BCH to a unique address linked to that invoice.
• The payment gateway tracks the transaction and marks it paid after the right confirmation count.
• You can convert incoming BCH to another asset right away, or keep it as BCH.
• Your finance team exports reports that match invoices, payments, and settlement amounts.

CoinsPaid supports rate locking at the moment of payment, so the amount you receive matches the invoice. Accepting BCH with a licensed payment gateway is easy, because you can set up automatic conversions into stablecoins or even bank payouts – never holding digital assets if you don’t want to.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Nothing in this article should be interpreted as a recommendation to buy or sell digital assets. Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies are subject to regulatory requirements that vary by jurisdiction. Businesses and individuals should consult qualified legal and financial professionals before engaging in cryptocurrency-related activities.