Just a few more hours to wait and then it’s time. Bitcoin Cash block rewards will be halved. Please note, this is not about Bitcoin, but about another crypto called Bitcoin Cash. For anyone new to crypto, on behalf of the entire community: apologies for the confusion.
Why is there a halving in Bitcoin Cash?
Block halvings occur every 4 years or 210,000 blocks on the Bitcoin Cash blockchain. The current block reward is 6.25 BCH, the next block reward will be 3.125 BCH. This reduces the speed at which Bitcoin Cash is generated. The halving is periodic and is programmed into the code of Bitcoin Cash.
Here you can check exactly when the halving takes place.
Normal currencies such as our Euro can be subject to inflation when governments or banks increase the money supply.
However, Bitcoin Cash has a maximum total supply of 21 million BCH, meaning no additional coins can be created beyond this limit. This finite supply provides an important similarity with gold: a (digital) commodity with a limited supply that cannot be artificially increased.
If you’re thinking… hmmm that looks a lot like Bitcoin, then you missed the Blocksize Wars.
War over block size
The period between 2015 and 2017 is known as the ‘Blocksize Wars’ and was characterized by internal divisions in the crypto community. What started as an argument about how the network should scale to handle many transactions grew into a philosophical war over Bitcoin’s ultimate purpose and a political drama over how the open-source project should be managed.
Birth of Bitcoin Cash brought confusion
In 2017, a large group of miners decided to split Bitcoin’s blockchain and adjust the block size. This is called a hard fork and from this Bitcoin Cash was born. Both branches of the blockchain fought for the right to be called the real Bitcoin.
Some Bitcoin Cash promoters are trying to position the coin as an ‘improved’ version of Bitcoin. They emphasize the advantages of BCH, such as the higher transaction speed and lower costs, compared to BTC.
To this day there is therefore confusion between the two.
