On the first day of this month (i.e. 1st August, 2017), the crypto community was buzzing about the bitcoin split and that was the major topic on miner’s lips. The split of bitcoin created a new cryptocurrency which the community called ‘Bitcoin Cash’, and so bitcoin cash flourished and all was well.
Source: news.bitcoin.com
The success of bitcoin cash was celebrated two days later when Coin market cap recorded that the bitcoin cash rose from $220 to about $700 in the market cap. It came as a shock to miners and crypto lovers and the ecosystem was set abuzz for the second time in less than a week.
The excitement however, was short lived as the rookie virtual currency took a dive down the leader board. On Friday 4th of August, bitcoin cash dropped from a whopping $700 to $287 and that left most miners and major digital currency exchange who had already begun collecting bitcoin cash deposits dumbfounded.
The over 30% plunge has brought about some doubts about the new cryptocurrency. Bitfinex, Bittrex and Trezor which are major exchange companies started accepting bitcoin cash almost the minute it was created. They were all affected by the fall with Bittrex taking the bulk of the fall as about 43% of the bitcoin cash transactions were orchestrated by them.
Brain Kelly, the CEO of BKCM a company that deals with running digital assets strategies gave his thought about the bitcoin cash drop in an interview with CNBC.
He said;
“I suspect the price drop is people selling newly minted currency, bitcoin cash”
Although bitcoin cash went down the chart, it still stands at over some other cryptocurrencies. Its counterpart bitcoin still maintains its place as the most expensive cryptocurrency, which rose by an impressive three percent trading at $3,025 around June this year. Its rival Ethereum maintains a position two percent below bitcoin after experiencing almost 2000 percent rise this year.
It is hard to tell if Bitcoin cash will continue to thrive, however, several other currency exchange forums have expressed interest in the new currency. Coin base’s GDAX exchange has reveal that it will start trading bitcoin cash in January 2018.
Hopefully, the split that brought about the new currency will not be in vain. Since the split has made bitcoin cash transactions very slow at a speed of eight megabytes, it is safe to say that with time the bitcoin cash will gain momentum and begin to play with the big boys (Bitcoin and Ethereum).