GETTY Bitcoin forked earlier this month, creating Bitcoin Cash

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Bitcoin forked earlier this month, creating Bitcoin Cash - a new version of the cryptocurrency with its own rules and blockchain. All bitcoin transactions are recorded by a ledger, known as the blockchain, which is run by so-called ’miners’. And the fork is essentially a divergence in the bitcoin blockchain, which means there are now two sets of tokens: bitcoin on the original chain and bitcoin cash on the new blockchain.

GETTY Bitcoin Cash surged by over 70 per cent

But just two weeks after the fork took place, the new currency has gone from strength to strength - and experts claim could now be more profitable than the original. Bitcoin Cash had garnered mixed reactions following its launch and subsequent price slide to below $300, a level around which it stayed for several weeks. Now it has surged dramatically overnight, spiking as high as $569 and levelling off at around $500. The rising price has created the incentive for miners to dedicate their computer power to the new cash blockchain, where they are making around 2 per cent more income.

GETTY Bitcoin Cash could now be worth more