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Bitcoin Cash is considered a faster and cheaper alternative to Bitcoin and was created in 2017 after Bitcoin experienced a hard fork in its blockchain.
Here’s how Bitcoin Cash came to be and what you need to know about its purpose within the crypto universe.
What is Bitcoin Cash?
Bitcoin Cash, a cryptocurrency spun off Bitcoin, offers faster transaction times and lower fees than Bitcoin. Both coins operate on the blockchain, which processes transactions. The spin-off that created Bitcoin Cash increased the block size for transactions from 1MB to 8MB initially. Bigger blocks mean more transactions can be processed in each block.
Some proponents believe Bitcoin Cash could become an alternative to Visa and PayPal, in that people can use Bitcoin Cash for smaller, everyday purchases. It’s harder to do that with Bitcoin, despite the original intention, because of the scale, transaction capacity, transaction fees and time to verify transactions on its blockchain.
Even with the block size change, Bitcoin Cash can only process about 116 transactions per second — theoretically as high as 200 — well below Visa’s capacity of 65,000 transactions per second (TPS).
For perspective, Bitcoin can process seven transactions per second on the high side and Solana, one of the fastest cryptocurrencies, averages about 4,300 TPS, though it claims to have the capacity to match Visa’s 65,000 TPS.
How Bitcoin Cash got started
Bitcoin Cash was created in 2017 after developers in the crypto community decided that there were aspects of Bitcoin that were inefficient, including high fees and slow transaction times, as more people began buying, selling and trading the coin. All of this activity began to overwhelm Bitcoin’s blockchain.
To solve this, a group of developers decided to modify certain aspects of Bitcoin’s blockchain through a hard fork. This means Bitcoin Cash was created from a split off of Bitcoin’s original blockchain. Think of it like a river splitting or a fork in a road.
A hard fork occurs when changes to the blockchain aren’t compatible with the old system, forcing a system-wide update. If developers disagree about implementing the changes, the blockchain can fork, creating a new coin. Cryptocurrencies can also take a soft fork where blockchain changes are backward compatible and don’t require everyone to agree or update.
Hard forks aren’t necessarily uncommon. In fact, Bitcoin’s blockchain has forked dozens of times throughout its lifetime, meaning there are lots of different opinions on how the coin should work. Bitcoin Cash itself forked in 2018 to create Bitcoin Satoshi’s Vision.
Here are some other well-known hard forks that have occurred to create new coins:
- Bitcoin Gold
- Bitcoin Diamond
- Ethereum Classic
- Ether Zero
What’s the difference between Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin?
There are two big differences between Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin.
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Block size: Bitcoin Cash might’ve been created from the same original blockchain, but it has a very different blockchain size and structure. Bitcoin Cash can have blocks as big as 32MB whereas Bitcoin tops out at 4MB now.
That added capacity means Bitcoin Cash can support a larger number of transactions in less time. Bitcoin Cash has the capacity for 25,000 transactions per block vs. 1,000 to 1,500 transactions per block with Bitcoin. Still, Bitcoin averages more transactions in a day than Bitcoin Cash, more than 422,000 transactions vs. 15,000 on Feb. 18, 2025.
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Transaction fees: Bitcoin Cash has lower transaction fees than Bitcoin. Transaction fees for each coin vary based on what crypto exchange you’re using and what the pricing model is, but on average, Bitcoin Cash fees are under 1 cent and Bitcoin fees range from $1 to $5. Over the last 30 days, Bitcoin Cash’s average fee was $0.006 to Bitcoin’s $1.78, according to CoinMarketCap as of Feb. 18, 2025.
| Stat | Bitcoin Cash | Bitcoin |
|---|---|---|
| Launch | 2017 | 2009 |
| Number of coins | 19.8 million in circulation / 21 million max | 19.8 million in circulation / 21 million max |
| Price | $315.84 | $95,539.54 |
| All-time high | $4,355.62 (December 2017) | $109,114.88 (January 2025) |
| All-time low | $75.08 (December 2018) | $0.04865 (July 2010) |
| Market cap | $6.23 billion | $1.89 trillion |
| Source: CoinMarketCap, retrieved Feb. 18, 2025 |
Is Bitcoin Cash a good investment?
Investing in any crypto is risky, and comes with plenty of cons. Crypto prices aren’t based on underlying assets like stocks or bonds are. They are purely speculative, only driven by what others investors are willing to pay for the coin and the hype behind it — which can vanish quickly. Bitcoin Cash is no exception.
That said, think about what role you want crypto to play in your portfolio ahead of investing. Are you diversifying? Using Bitcoin Cash as a store of value? Hoping that trading crypto will make you millions? Crypto can be part of your financial plan, but it shouldn’t be your only one. A diversified portfolio with a wide range of assets is usually the way to go.
Bottom line
Bitcoin Cash was created from a hard fork in the Bitcoin blockchain to provide faster, cheaper transactions. Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash have some differences, including their use cases, prices, fees and the volume of transactions they’re able to handle at one time. If you’re considering investing, take the time to understand the risks and don’t invest more than you’re willing to lose.
Editorial Disclaimer: All investors are advised to conduct their own independent research into investment strategies before making an investment decision. In addition, investors are advised that past investment product performance is no guarantee of future price appreciation.
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