Bitcoin Cash, Which Split From Bitcoin, Has Split Into Two Cryptocurrencies — Again

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has split into two cryptocurrencies called Bitcoin Cash ABC (BCH ABC) and Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN), CoinDesk reported Sunday.

What Happened: The split — called a hard fork in cryptocurrency parlance — implies the latest version of the underlying Blockchain protocol has gone through a radical change.

In the case of BCH, this change has led to the emergence of two new coins, with the last common block mined at #661647, according to CoinDesk.

The latest upgrade was reportedly proposed by a group of developers known as BCH ABC led by Amaury Sechet, who proposed a new “Coinbase Rule” that required 8% of the mined BCH to be redistributed to them.

The upgrade did not gain the approval of another group known as Bitcoin Cash Node, which removed the 8% levy from their source code leading to an effective split.

Why It Matters: BCH is also the result of a hard fork that took place on Aug. 1, 2017, as miners of the apex cryptocurrency were at loggerheads over block size at the time.

In November 2018, BCH further split into two cryptocurrencies, with one retaining the original branding and the other debuting as Bitcoin SV.

Roger Ver, who is a strong proponent of Bitcoin Cash,  decried the latest BCH hard fork in an interview with CoinDesk.

“It is really a big problem to have these contentious hard forks. I’d like to see that come to an end,” Ver said. 

BCH has a software upgrade every six months and a split in the chain can happen when the community surrounding it fails to reach a consensus agreement, noted CoinDesk.

Ver also observed that the BCH network’s problem was that its developers were flush with funds. 

“I think the way [Bitcoin] went off the rails from Bitcoin Cash is developers had too much money and then they started developing and tinkering with too many different things, which caused a problem in the network,” Ver told CoinDesk.

BCH ABC has not received any hash power, it is thus likely that BCHN will emerge as the dominant BCH network and inherit its ticker, CoinDesk reported. 

Price Action: Bitcoin Cash traded 9.58% lower at $234.44 at press time. Grayscale Bitcoin Cash Trust BCHG closed 1.59% lower at $14.86 in the otc market on Friday.