Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Payments (Bitcoin fork)
Bitcoin Cash split from Bitcoin on 1 August 2017 to allow much larger blocks for cheaper payments. It keeps Bitcoin’s 21 million cap and proof-of-work mining.
Profile last verified 23 September 2026. Live figures from CoinGecko. Not investment advice.
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What is Bitcoin Cash?
The fork came out of the “block size war”: supporters wanted bigger blocks so everyday payments stay cheap on-chain, instead of relying on second layers like Lightning.
Anyone holding bitcoin at the fork received the same amount of BCH. It uses SHA-256 mining, so it shares miners with Bitcoin, and it had its own halving in April 2024.
Key facts
| Ticker | BCH |
|---|---|
| Type | Payments (Bitcoin fork) |
| Launched | August 2017 (hard fork of Bitcoin) |
| Consensus | Proof of work (SHA-256) |
| Supply | Hard cap of 21 million BCH, same schedule as Bitcoin. |
| Official site | bitcoincash.org |
What BCH is used for
- Low-fee peer-to-peer payments
- Merchant payments
Main risks
- Much lower hash power than Bitcoin, so in theory easier to attack
- Smaller developer and merchant community
- Further splits have happened before (Bitcoin SV in 2018)
Related guides
Bitcoin Cash: frequently asked questions
- Is Bitcoin Cash the same as Bitcoin?
- No. It is a separate coin that shares Bitcoin’s history up to August 2017.
- Why was Bitcoin Cash created?
- To raise the block size limit so more transactions fit on-chain and fees stay low.
- Does Bitcoin Cash have a supply cap?
- Yes, 21 million BCH, with halvings roughly every four years like Bitcoin.