Bitcoin’s “Day Of Reckoning” Has Arrived: Traders Welcome “Bitcoin Cash” As Network Splits
After more than two years of internecine struggles over how to expand bitcoin’s ability to quickly process transactions, the long-feared bitcoin “day of reckoning” has arrived. The bitcoin network has split into two separate blockchains, causing the creation of a new cryptocurrency twin to the original bitcoin.
In the meantime, the collapse that some bitcoin doomsayers envisioned has so far yet to materialize; the original cryptocurrency was off 3% in recent trade, while most of its peers were higher on the day.
After announcing Saturday that they would go ahead with the fork, bitcoin miners running the alternative bitcoin software will soon begin producing the new coin, known as bitcoin cash. Bitcoin cash raises the limit of how much data can be stored in a single “block” on the bitcoin blockchain, which proponents say will help increase transaction speeds while tamping down rising transaction costs.
Though no blocks of bitcoin cash have yet been mined, Kraken, one of the most popular US exchanges, has added it to its interface.
Bitcoin cash trading live on Kraken, though none yet exists. So fascinating to watch.
Other exchanges are still figuring out how they will handle cash, according to CNBC.
Bitfinex, which has nearly a third of U.S.-dollar bitcoin trade volume, tweeted Tuesday morning that “We will stop processing $ BTC deposits at noon UTC until the situation has settled. Deposits after that time will not be eligible for $ BCH.”
