Update: It seems inaccurate to call BCC futures as users already exchange it for cash on ViaBTC, so I will stop trying to define it.

As the hard fork risks are getting lower when BIP91 gets locked in, ViaBTC abruptly announced on July 22 to support Bitcoin Cash(BCC), a “split” coin of a potential hard fork. After the announcement, Chinese bitcoiners in all of the WeChat groups are asking the same questions: what the hell is BCC? is there going to be a chain split? who is behind it, Bitmain? is it free money or a scam? In this series, we will work to lift the fog and help you learn more about the story of BCC.

What is Bitcoin Cash?

Bitcoin Cash, or BCC is the token to Bitcoin ABC, a scaling attempt trying to push for a bitcoin hard fork. The “ABC” part stands for Adjustable Blocksize Cap suggesting that users can determine the big blocksize accordingly. Bitcoin ABC includes many changes, including a dynamic difficulty adjustment where difficulty will be reduced by 20% if less than 6 blocks are generated in 12 hours.

As to why the split coin is named BCC instead of ABC coin, an anonymous bitcoiner explains that:

“They are trying to confuse your thinking and cause panic among bitcoiners. ViaBTC is just a small exchange that tries to get some attention by copying what Bitfinex did.”

Earlier in March, Bitfinex launched two types of tokens BCC and BCU representing Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Unlimited respectively, which allows users speculate on them. Rules are simple, if a hard fork occurs by a deadline of December 31,2017, BCC tokens will be retired; if a hard fork does not happen, BCU tokens will expire and be rendered worthless. So far, a hard fork seems highly unlikely now and BCC price has been taking the lead.

“There is already a BCC token as in BitConnect. ViaBTC should have named their coin ABC, but they deliberately named it BCC and named non-BCC tokens BTC_FROZEN2 as a way of confusing our thinking. Plus, it is just an altcoin and they should stop calling it a split coin. We’d better keep our bitcoin in a wallet where we have the keys instead of freezing them on ViaBTC.”

Who sets the price of Bitcoin Cash?

“The price of BCC was 4000 CNY when I checked it at 14:30 p.m on July 22 and it went to 5999 CNY in less than 40 minutes. You think it’s natural? I think it’s people from ViaBTC who place orders with high price trying to attract more people. When price goes up, exchanges will consider supporting it.”

Currently, the average price of per BCC is 2000 RMB. And 3984 BCC have been traded on ViaBTC in the past 24 hours, and 106 on OKEX.

“ViaBTC has launched a BCC mining pool. And with Bitmain’s support, I assume they could get more hash power in three months. And if Bitmain is determined to make BCC a success, then they will work to make its price way much higher than its current price. As such, if you short it now, you are actually losing money.”

A person posted on 8btc forum that Chinese miners in ViaBTC group are asking for refunds for their mining contracts.

What exchanges are supporting BCC trade?

ViaBTC is now supporting BCC/CNY trading pair and BCC/BTC trading pair.

OKEX started listing BCC on July 23. They support BCS/BTC trading pair and BCC/BTC trading pair. (Note: BCS is the token to BIP91)

Coinbase has made their stance clear that they will not support a hard fork coin.

Bitfinex is said to be working on an announcement regarding BCC.

What does the community think of BCC?

Star Xu, CEO of OKCoin posted on Weibo last night saying BCC is an altcoin and its current price doesn’t match its true value. In other words, it’s overvalued.

“We support both BCC and BCS so that the market can decide their price. If BCC can survive, then we will respect users’ choice and we will rename BCS to BTC and remain the name of BCC after August 1.”

Chandler Guo filmed a video last night saying there is only one bitcoin and BCC is just an altcoin. He said there would be more altcoins copying the code of Bitcoin. (BTW, he also said if bitcoin price didn’t hit $ 1 million in his lifetime, he’d eat his d**k.)

Wu Gang, CEO of Bixin questioned why ViaBTC launched BCC as the community has agreed on Segwit2x.

“If anyone tries to split the community, it’s not Core and it’s not Bixin.”

Some say Bixin is considering to make its own fork coin and stop supporting other possible fork coins.

Zhao Dong, founder of DCASH, said that some people are going to be common enemies of the bitcoin community for their misconduct.

“It’s gonna be wild! I’m not be part of it. If Bitcoin price crashed, it would be a great chance to buy more bitcoin.”

Mao, founder of F2Pool noted that BCC and BTC might repeat what happened between ETH and ETC.

“As a large amount of hash power is getting centralized or under the control of a single entity, there must be a hard fork and POW system will be altered. It’s only a matter of time.”

Jiang Zhuoer said earlier this morning that he neither supports nor opposes it.

“I support NYA, but I also support free market. BCC is able to add LN and Rootstock without the activation of SegWit.”

Bitmain announced this morning that ViaBTC, an independent entity, does not represent Bitmain and its founder Yang Haipo enjoys ten times the voting weight over other shareholders.

“Bitmain supports SegWit2X and is committed to its successful deployment. Plus, we will keep close watch on BCC and support both SegWit2X and BCC if necessary.”

But after the announcement, an industrial player revealed that Yang Haibo doesn’t have much voting power. He added that:

“The future of SegWit2X is uncertain as some guy might break NYA by asking people to vote for 1M or 2M. We can never be sure about anything in the bitcoin community. If the birth of BCC can help us negotiate better with Core, then it is a welcome move.”

Do you think there will be a hard fork? Will you buy BCC or short it?