Bitcoin Cash (BCH): how it works, supply and reviews
Layer 1 blockchain
In short
- Type
- Layer-1 blockchain; a hard fork of Bitcoin at block 478,558
- Maximum supply
- 21,000,000 BCH
- Risks and caveats
- There is no foundation or company behind BCH; upgrades depend on coordination between independent node teams, and specifications are maintained per project.
- Checked
- 28 October 2026
Visitor ratings: do you like Bitcoin Cash?
Key facts
- Ticker
- BCH
- Category
- Layer 1 blockchain
- Network
- own blockchain
- Mining algorithm
- SHA-256
- Official site
- bch.info
- Whitepaper
- bch.info/bitcoin.pdf
- Source code
- github.com/bitcoincashorg/bitcoincash.org
Data: CoinGecko, 2026-10-27. Only projects that still trade with meaningful volume are listed.
What is Bitcoin Cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a proof-of-work cryptocurrency that split from Bitcoin on 1 August 2017 to scale on-chain as low-fee electronic cash. It keeps Bitcoin's 21 million coin limit and has since added native tokens (CashTokens) and an adaptive block size limit.
Network and consensus
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Type | Layer-1 blockchain; a hard fork of Bitcoin at block 478,558 |
| Consensus | SHA-256 proof of work (mining) |
| Launched | 1 August 2017 (fork activation time 12:20 UTC) |
| Block time | 10-minute target, kept by the ASERT difficulty adjustment algorithm (since November 2020) |
| Smart contracts | Bitcoin-style Script; native fungible and non-fungible tokens (CashTokens) since 15 May 2023 |
Supply and issuance
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Maximum supply | 21,000,000 BCH |
| Issuance | New coins are paid to miners as a block reward; the reward started at 50 coins per block |
| Halving | The block reward halves every 210,000 blocks, roughly every four years |
What BCH is used for
- Peer-to-peer payments and merchant payments
- Paying network transaction fees
- Mining reward for securing the network with proof of work
Who develops and governs Bitcoin Cash
- Developer
- Several independent node teams; Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN) is one of them
- Governance
- No company or foundation; protocol changes are proposed and coordinated across development teams (e.g. on bitcoincashresearch.org)
- Founders
- No single founder; Bitcoin Cash continues Bitcoin's chain, created by Satoshi Nakamoto, up to the 2017 split
- Open source
- Yes; node software such as Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN) is released under the MIT licence
History
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| October 2008 | Satoshi Nakamoto publishes the Bitcoin whitepaper, the shared origin of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. |
| 1 August 2017 | Bitcoin Cash splits from Bitcoin at block 478,558 to allow larger blocks. |
| 15 November 2020 | The ASERT difficulty adjustment algorithm is adopted to keep blocks close to 10 minutes apart. |
| 15 May 2023 | CashTokens upgrade activates, adding native fungible and non-fungible tokens. |
| 2024 | The Adaptive Block Limit Algorithm (ABLA) activates, letting the block size limit adjust to demand. |
Security and audits
- Blocks are secured by SHA-256 proof of work: rewriting a block requires redoing the work for it and every later block.
Risks and caveats
- There is no foundation or company behind BCH; upgrades depend on coordination between independent node teams, and specifications are maintained per project.
- Bitcoin Cash shares Bitcoin's SHA-256 mining algorithm, so the same mining hardware can secure either chain.
Official links
- Website: bitcoincash.org
- Docs: reference.cash
- Upgrade specifications: upgradespecs.bitcoincashnode.org
- Source code: gitlab.com/bitcoin-cash-node/bitcoin-cash-node
- Node software: bitcoincashnode.org/en
- Governance forum: bitcoincashresearch.org
Questions and answers
What is Bitcoin Cash?
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a proof-of-work cryptocurrency that split from Bitcoin on 1 August 2017 to serve as low-fee electronic cash.
Who created Bitcoin Cash?
Bitcoin Cash has no single creator; it continues Bitcoin's history up to block 478,558 and is developed by several independent node teams.
What is the maximum supply of Bitcoin Cash?
The protocol caps supply at 21 million BCH. The mining reward halves every 210,000 blocks, about every four years.
How does Bitcoin Cash work?
Miners secure the chain with SHA-256 proof of work, targeting one block every 10 minutes, and receive newly issued BCH plus fees.
Sources
- CoinGecko — Bitcoin Cash
- Bitcoin Cash — bitcoincash.org
- Bitcoin Cash Protocol Documentation — Blockchain
- Bitcoin Cash Protocol Documentation — Proof of Work
- BCH upgrade specifications — UAHF technical spec
- BCH upgrade specifications — ASERT (November 2020)
- BCH upgrade specifications — May 2023 upgrade
- BCH upgrade specifications — Home
- Bitcoin Cash Node — chainparams.cpp
- Bitcoin Cash Node — validation.cpp
More in this section
- Chainlink (LINK)
- Cardano (ADA)
- Stellar (XLM)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Hedera (HBAR)
- Tether Gold (XAUT)
- All Crypto projects →
Related
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Monero (XMR)
- Zcash (ZEC)
- Dash (DASH)
- Stacks (STX)
- Bitcoin SV (BSV)
- Qtum (QTUM)
- Rootstock Infrastructure Framework (RIF)
How voting works
Votes are anonymous and carry no text. Each device has one vote per item; press the same button again to remove it. Cloudflare Turnstile checks that a person is voting. We keep a random device ID in a cookie and a salted hash of the IP address to limit abuse — no names, no accounts. Votes are visitors’ opinions, not investment advice.
Page updated: