Scheduled for November 15th, the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) hard fork will be different from its predecessors. A hard fork is a usual occurrence on the BCH network, conducted twice a year to implement protocol upgrades, which go unnoticed. However, this time the BCH community failed to reach a consensus, meaning that after November 15th there will be two separate Bitcoin Cash blockchains and thus – two different coins.

Two sides are vying for Bitcoin Cash supremacy

BCH developers have come up with two different solutions, the first being Bitcoin Cash ABC. It would introduce pre-consensus to the network, allowing it to scale better. Zero-confirmation transactions could also go a long way towards mass adoption, as they would encourage using BCH in daily transactions, instead of HODLing the coins. The ABC version is favoured by bitcoin evangelist Roger Ver and mining giant Bitmain among others.

However, a part of BCH community has rejected the ABC approach and has come up with Bitcoin SV (Satoshi Vision) instead. Bitcoin SV is developed by nChain, a blockchain group, led by the controversial Craig Wright, the self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto. nChain suggests sticking to the original bitcoin whitepaper, except for block size increase to 128MB.

Two sides have recently come to blows, with Wright labelling Ver “an enemy”, who “hates bitcoin”. Allegedly, Wright’s email to Ver ended in what could be interpreted as a threat. He wrote that, “I AM Satoshi. Have a nice life. You will now discover me when pissed off.“ Meanwhile, in a YouTube video Ver has claimed that Wright has “fooled” him.

https://twitter.com/ProfFaustus/status/1060515026145026049

Miners favor Wright‘s vision

Even though Bitcoin Cash ABC has got strong support within the BCH community, the majority of miners seem to be leaning towards Bitcoin Cash SV. According to Coin Dance, based on hash rates, 66-77 percent of miners are backing the SV version, while only 18-29 percent are in favour of the ABC approach. Interestingly, almost half on the 2246 nodes on the BCH network are Bitcoin Cash ABC nodes, while only 166 belong to SV.

Which side will be victorious after the hard fork remains to be seen, as launching a bitcoin node is relatively cheap. The most important part is for the new currencies to be listed on the exchanges. Both ABC and SV coins are already on Poloniex and HitBTC, trading at around $422 and $118 at press time accordingly. Binance and Coinbase have already announced their support, once the hard fork is fully completed.

BCH price has been steadily increasing for the past two weeks in anticipation of the hard fork, rising by almost 50 percent, from $425 on November 2nd to $630 a mere 5 days later. The coin, which is itself a hard fork from the original bitcoin network, has slumped since then, maybe due to ongoing conflicts between the two camps. It opened at around $510 today, although the price has spiked to $540 in a matter of minutes at the time of writing, which could well prove to be a turning point. We will be updating you as the story develops further.

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