Bitcoin Cash Becomes A Top 3 Cryptocurrency
On August, 1st a new cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Cash (BCC) emerged due to the Bitcoin hard fork. Bitcoin Cash transactions are now available.
Bitcoin Cashhas surged in value since its release yesterday, becoming a top three cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of more than $8 billion dollars at the time of report, according to CoinMarketCap.
Currently, the only two cryptocurrencies that are ahead of Bitcoin Cash in terms of market capitalization are Bitcoin and Ethereum, CoinMarketCap figures show.
Because of its sharp rise, Bitcoin Cash, a cryptocurrency that offers far larger block capacity than Bitcoin, has had a standout performance during its first few trading days, quickly vaulting into the spotlight.
[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment.]
Anticipation
Market participants traded futures for Bitcoin Cash for several days ahead of its launch, which backers had planned for August 1. As a result, traders were able to speculate on the value of this novel cryptocurrency before it came into existence.
At roughly 18:30 UTC, viaBTC pool created its first Bitcoin Cash block, a block that was not accepted by the traditional Bitcoin network and therefore represented a whole new blockchain.
With this new block, the Bitcoin network successfully underwent a hard fork, creating two separate blockchains with two distinct currencies.
This fork could be viewed as the culmination of years worth of discussions between members of the Bitcoin community who sought to address the cryptocurrency's scaling dilemma, a matter that had led to lengthy transaction times and high expenses.
"Today is a momentous day for Bitcoin," said Jacob Eliosoff, a cryptocurrency fund manager.
High Hopes
Going forward, some market observers have high hopes for Bitcoin Cash, believing that it could potentially draw significant interest from both miners and investors.
Eliosoff, who is in this camp, has emphasized Bitcoin Cash's quick progress in gaining market share.
If the cryptocurrency's market capitalization can remain a significant fraction of Bitcoin's, "it may be able to get some uptake by users, businesses [and] payment processors," he stated.
Eliosoff said that in the future, Bitcoin Cash may end up in a situation where it is "not replacing Bitcoin, not competing with it as an equal peer, but not just quietly dying off either."
