Bitcoin Cash Hard Fork: THE HASH WAR
22.11.2018
“Cryptology Represents the Future of Privacy [and] by Implication [it] Also Represents the Future of Money, and the Future of Banking and Finance.” — Orlin Grabbe, Economist
In an era where everything around us is turning digital, with modifications and upgradations every now and then, we are all accustomed and habituated to the changes around us.
An upgradation is quite important in one’s lifestyle, and just like that, the new wave of digital currencies has taken our livelihood one notch high. As we all know about the trending market of cryptocurrencies and the formulations that this digitally framed currency has brought about, we see a point of discussion about everything that is happening in the sector.
Recently, the most talked about topic in this sector has been the Bitcoin Cash Hard Fork which took place on November 15, 2018; Thursday. But, before discussing about the bitcoin cash hard fork, let’s discuss what is hard fork.
Hard Fork is a radical change to the protocol, related to the blockchain technology that makes a previously invalid block/transaction valid (vice-versa). During a hard fork, a permanent split occurs in the previous version of blockchain and diverges into two branches in the same chain. Hard fork is currently known to developers as a method to update the blockchain software.
A hard fork is implemented to modify the security risks in the previous versions of software, add new functionalities, innovate and repair the damage done by a hack. The blockchain is an open source of development and hence, is upgraded at a yearly basis.
Launched in August 2017, Bitcoin Cash is the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and has since become Bitcoin’s most successful and talked about offshoot. This separation happened to manage Bitcoin’s scalability problem. With the aim of generating a second currency with an updated set of protocols, Bitcoin Cash Hard Fork took place this year.
The Bitcoin Cash Hard Fork which took place in November 2018, split into two rival fractions, namely Bitcoin Cash ABC and Bitcoin Cash SV.
Bitcoin Cash ABC, where ABC is referred to as Adjustable Blocksize Cap, is lead by Roger Ver, a prominent investor and an early Bitcoin adopter and Jihan Wu,Co-Founder, Bitmain. Also known as the Bitcoin Jesus, Ver’s viewpoint on Bitcoin is that of achieving economic freedom. He has described Bitcoin Cash as the real Bitcoin, providing a statement that Bitcoin Cash will in the near future have a bigger market capitalization, trade volume and user base than Bitcoin. This fraction of split is being supported by various other mining pools, like- Bitcoin ABC, BTC.com, Antpool, and Bitcoin.com. The block size for Bitcoin Cash ABC network is 32MB.
BCH ABC’s roadmap prioritizes to minimize transaction costs, and aims for development of network in the near future. This wing of BCH supporters aim to preserve the Bitcoin Cash network from any radical changes.
Whereas Bitcoin Cash SV, where SV is referred to as Satoshi’s View, is majorly supported and lead by Dr. Craig S. Wright, also dubbed as “Fake Satoshi”.
Unlike the Bitcoin Cash ABC, the Bitcoin Cash SV, has proposed some radical changes to the network while trying to attempt to restore the original Satoshi Protocol. With the change in the network protocol, the BCH SV has also quadrupled the blocksize from 32MB to 128MB.
Apart from Dr. Wright, the supporters of the BCH network include Jimmy Nyugen, Calvin Ayre and the mining pools supporting this version are Coingeek and Bitcoin.org. These supporters are also focusing on easing up transition to smart contracts.
In the recent days, a battle took the hype on the internet. The Bitcoin Cash ABC vs. Bitcoin Cash SV: Hash War.
What is a Hash War?
The more amount of hash power (mining power), the more secure and long the blockchain will be. The network that fails to receive the majority hash power, loses momentum and the miners move on to mine the more successful blockchain.
On November 15, 2018; the first ABC Block was found by the mining pool Bitcoin.com at a block height 556767. Minutes later, SV miners processed a block with the same height on a seperate chain, leading to an unusual split into two BCH Blockchain(s).
The hard fork-hash war started off with BCH ABC in the lead with a hash rate of 61% while BCH SV’s hash rate was of 39%. The BCH ABC network had accumulated more proof-of-work (PoW) than that of BCH SV.
To quote the hash war, supporters/ leaders of both network posted their views:
“I have no intention to start a hash war with [Craig Wright], because if I do — by relocating hash power from BTC mining to BCH mining — BTC price will dump below yearly support; it may even breech $5,000. But since [Craig Wright] is relentless, I am all in to fight till death!”- Jihan Wu, Co-founder, Bitmain
As a defensive reaction, the self-acclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto, Dr. Craig S. Wright tweeted:
“Just a reminder
Sustainable hash
Not a day, not weeks, not a burst.
Continuous competition until one dies as we do not stop.”
This war continues to be the hype in the crypto network, and everyone has their own point of view. To work around cryptos is itself an action where all that you expect is the unexpected.
Author- Rashi Aggarwal
