What the fork is happening with BCH? Bitcoin ABC & Bitcoin SV Conundrum
The BCH community is at crossroads and is equally split between two paths open to them. One path walks down the Bitcoin ABC road and the other one walks down to Bitcoin SV. Both the concepts provide very different functionalities that also raises the question “How will these chains exist side by side?”. The fact that the decision will be taken in a completely decentralized manner by the community showcases the true spirit of the Blockchain. Remember, BCH was a fork of original Bitcoin and forks of a fork is not a pleasant sight. Phew!!
For all those who are new to this term, Bitcoin forks are changes in the protocol of Bitcoin network that results in the creation of a newer version of Bitcoin protocol, validating previously invalid blocks and transactions (or the other way round). To know more about blockchain fork. Click Here
All of the confusion regarding which path the miners and the community will choose to walk will be cleared out on 15th Nov 2018. But if you go by the BCH trading data released by Poloniex, the traders are more inclined towards Bitcoin ABC, while on the other hand, the majority of the hash power on the network appears to be in favor of Bitcoin SV. However, from 1:4 ratio, the difference is down to 1:2 almost, still favoring ABC but SV with all its hash power is closing the gap.
Going by the public statements released by CoinGeek, SVPool, BMG Pool, oakminer and others have all indicated support for Bitcoin SV that controls at least 73% of the network hash rate. Craig Wright, the controversial chief scientist of nChain — the company that implemented Bitcoin SV, stated that he will gladly play a role in the killing of the Bitcoin ABC by mining empty blocks onto the network after the split.
What I can observe here is the striking similarity of the current situation with that of the BTC-BCH split in 2017. At that time also, most of the people involved expected Bitcoin Cash to take over in terms of hashpower. Also, during a certain time, the percentages kept on moving back and forth between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash that was completely due to profitability reasons.
I believe that history will repeat itself, in the initial phase miners may switch back-and-forth between Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV, to reap profitability benefits driven by each of their prices. On which basis, I would say that the above-stated data pointers only showcase one side of the coin and not the complete story itself.
In the end, I would quote the chief scientist of Bitcoin Unlimited, “ It is possible for one chain to mine malicious blocks … [the] SV alliance has said they will attack [the] BCH chain if ABC rules get implemented. I think that’s a bluff, and they don’t have [the] technical capacity to make it happen. If it does, it could hurt BCH.” My two pence take is that while this drama continues, it reinforces my strong belief in original BTC as the only truly Decentralised blockchain and makes the case even stronger now.
Let the hard fork reach its completion, it will make things a lot clearer, revealing What the fork is happening! As they say, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Especially if the basket is leaking.
