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If you are new to crypto, you may be confused: is there more than one Bitcoin? What is the difference between Bitcoin and another coin called Bitcoin Cash? In this article, we’ll compare them point by point and thoroughly explain what sets them apart.
Key Takeaways
- The distinction traces back to 2017 when the community decided to make two versions of the Bitcoin blockchain. Both are variations of the original protocol trying to follow their own way to become the “peer-to-peer electronic cash”;
- Bitcoin is seeing more retail use and is even recognized as legal tender in places. The Bitcoin Cash network focuses on the more specific use case of the original BTC.
- Bitcoin still holds its place at the top of the crypto market and is hailed as “digital gold”. Bitcoin Cash, on the other hand, has significantly lower transaction costs but also, a market cap.
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a decentralized and distributed open-source peer-to-peer ledger. It’s maintained by a network of nodes and miners, who add blocks to the blockchain and produce new bitcoins in a process called “mining”. To make it work, it uses a network of independent nodes which keep a copy of the ledger.
Bitcoin was designed by a pseudonymous cypherpunk known as Satoshi Nakamoto. In late 2008, they published a whitepaper in the community’s newsletter, and in early 2009 Bitcoin’s blockchain was launched. Bitcoin was developed as a theoretical solution to the debasement of national fiat currencies and an alternative to the existing financial system.
What is the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Coin?
Bitcoin had its limitations since day one, which caused many spin-off cryptocurrencies called altcoins to be developed. For example, it proved to be more unwieldy in day-to-day transactions due to slow processing times, and many blockchain developers sought to solve that.
In 2016, members of the Bitcoin community proposed a solution in the form of SegWit technology. However, a part of the community disagreed with this proposed change and put forward another solution: increasing the block size. At the core of this debate were the pros and cons of both SegWit and the larger block size.
The SegWit protocol separated transaction data from “witness” data, which includes the encrypted signature. Incidentally, while the block space remained at 1 MB, the block weight limit was also increased. Those who opposed SegWit believed it would make the Bitcoin blockchain less secure and opted to increase the block size itself. It was not a popular solution because it would make the blockchain more bloated and harder to sync. No consensus was reached, and the two cliques parted ways and split the blockchain. Unlike orphaned forks, if an offshoot chain receives enough support to be maintained independently, it can become a cryptocurrency of its own after a hard fork — this is how Bitcoin Cash (BCH) came to be.
So how does this newer Bitcoin Cash token work? You can think of it as Bitcoin with a few changes. In addition to being able to execute transactions on the blockchain as Bitcoin does, it claims to have lower fees and higher throughput without compromised security.
The story does not stop there, unfortunately, muddying the water even further. The chain that split from the original Bitcoin blockchain in 2016 was also split a few more times: in 2018, spawning BSV, and then, the split with eCash in 2020.
BCH vs BTC at a Glance
Due to them being very similar at the core, it might not be obvious how exactly these coins are different, especially to new cryptocurrency users. A Bitcoin Cash wallet address can appear almost the same as a BTC address, opening the window for irreversible mistakes. Luckily, there are also a few factors that define them as completely separate assets and networks.
| Bitcoin | Bitcoin Cash | |
| Scaling | 1 MB + SegWit | Larger block size, 32 MB |
| Transaction costs (June 2025) | >$1 | >$0.002 |
| Original Developers | Satoshi Nakamoto (pseudonym) | Bitcoin developers and community members (e.g. Roger Ver) |
| Use cases | Payments, speculation, investment | Payments, speculation |
Deeper Look into the Two Bitcoins
Throughput
What is the most obvious difference between BTC and BCH? The first thing to come to mind would be their use cases.
Bitcoin originally was meant to become a digital currency for daily use, and definitely is used as such even today. The reason that this use case moved to the background is that in its current state the Bitcoin throughput is still just 7 transactions per second.
Bitcoin Cash is also used as a means of payment and is arguably better than BTC for that purpose. Its max transactions per second (TPS) rate is around 116, which is definitely higher than in Bitcoin. BCH is a lot more niche, though: according to Blockchair, the BCH blockchain barely cracked 10 thousand transactions in the past day at the time of writing while BTC saw over 300 thousand during the same period.
Cost of Transacting
Are the fees at least better? A major argument of BCH proponents is that it is a lot cheaper to use than the big brother.
And it is true! The same blockchain explorer indicates that within the past 24 hours, a median transaction fee in Bitcoin was $0.59 but the median Bitcoin Cash (BCH) transaction fee was just $0.0014. It would make sense to opt for a cheaper blockchain if you look for smaller or even microtransactions.
Scaling
When it comes to scaling the network, BTC and BCH are more different than they seem on the surface. Since both networks have a relatively low throughput by default, there have been many attempts to solve this problem.
After SegWit which served as a stepping stone, Bitcoin Core (the one you know as BTC) opted for a layer-two solution, Lightning Network (LN) for quick transactions. In Lightning Network, transactions are performed almost instantaneously, and the record on the main blockchain is made only when the channel is closed. The main downsides to LN are it requires trust in the LN node operator and upfront liquidity.
Since Bitcoin Cash does not have SegWit implemented, layer-two scaling solutions such as LN are not possible there. Instead, the developer community relies on blockchain pruning and optimizing protocols. Xthinner and CTOR are a couple of those.
Security
Both BCH and BTC use the Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm. It means miners who solve cryptographic hashes to propagate the chain secure the network.
Why is Bitcoin more secure than BCH? In raw numbers, it has more mining power to back the consensus.
Attacking the chain would be prohibitively expensive for BTC but somewhat less so for BCH. A theoretical one-hour long 51% attack on BTC would cost $1,779,707 and $6,497 for BCH, according to the Crypto51 simulations.
Narratives
A very important facet of adoption is building a narrative around the coin, which outlines the use cases and the future. Since there is barely any common knowledge about either of these currencies on a mass scale (although Bitcoin lately is more and more present in a mainstream consciousness), the narrative acts as an introductory version of it.
The dominant narrative surrounding Bitcoin these days is “digital gold”: it is an asset with only 21 million units in existence. This immutable scarcity is what makes it attractive for storing value long-term, especially when the fiat currency emission constantly changes.
How many Bitcoin Cash units are there? You might be surprised to learn that its circulating supply is almost the same as BTC’s and the total supply is still 21 million bitcoins (cash). The developers did not change that part of the protocol because this was beside their point.
Since its early stages, it was important for Bitcoin Cash to set itself apart from the “Core” iteration in a way that mattered. At the same time, they maintain it is BCH’s vision that is true to Satoshi Nakamoto’s “digital peer-to-peer cash” vision. (A BCH fork Bitcoin SV would later even incorporate it into the name). One of BCH’s core principles is not to make its blockchain a settlement layer like BTC did.
Adoption
When it comes to adoption, Bitcoin Cash tries to compete with Bitcoin. Not as many people worldwide need the digital gold in contrast to an accessible digital payment network. Bitcoin became legal tender in El Salvador in 2021 but BCH is also on the table in other emerging nations.
As for merchants, the Cryptwerk registry has more than 6,600 points of purchase that accept Bitcoin worldwide and 2,470 that accept BCH as a payment method. Among other cryptocurrencies in real-world and online shops, BCH ranks as the 4th most popular coin of choice.
Future
No matter which side of the Bitcoin vs BCH debate you are taking, everyone is equally concerned about future-proofing the tech. One of the topics of debate is the environmental impact of these currencies.
Proof-of-Work requires real electricity so the mining machines can compute hashes, and the hash rate directly corresponds to the number of miners online. The higher it is, the more electricity is required to mine the next block, so when it grows, it’s exponential.
Bitcoin miners are moving to renewable and sustainable energy sources. In America, there is the Bitcoin Mining Council which provides public reports on the process of transition.
Currently, Bitcoin Cash amasses only a fraction of the hash power of Bitcoin, so it is less of an issue. Bitcoin Cash was launched with the vision that mining would be done by professionals, and in that case, the transition to more sustainable practices would be even easier than in BTC.
Should I go for Bitcoin Cash or Bitcoin?
Should I buy Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash? Once you go past the initial confusion and know the difference between the two, it gets easier.
The Bitcoin vs Bitcoin Cash price chart clearly shows which asset is the more valuable one.
The last time BCH outperformed BTC was in early 2018. In the 2021 bull run, it came close to showing similar gains as BTC, but not until it was completely overshadowed.
However, for Bitcoin Cash trading, the value comparison is not as important as a trend that currently moves the prices. More often than not, it can decouple from Bitcoin, taking the BCH crypto into a completely different direction. Moreover, the BCH market cap being smaller makes it easier for the prices to move in either direction. These facts can justify having both in your crypto portfolio in different allocations.
Conclusion
No matter which you choose, don’t forget both Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash can be bought and exchanged on ChangeHero. Just don’t confuse the two!
We hope you enjoyed the article, and if you did, find even more in our blog! You can follow ChangHero on X, Facebook, and Telegram for more frequent updates and bite-sized content.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened to Bitcoin Cash?
Most Bitcoin Cash news today concerns its price action. Bitcoin Cash Node follows a schedule of updates that always take place twice a year, so you can expect some BCH coin news around mid-May and mid-November.
What is Bitcoin Cash (BCH) crypto?
BCH is a standalone cryptocurrency that used to be the same as Bitcoin before 2017. However, today they are incompatible, so you have to use a Bitcoin Cash tracker not to confuse the networks.
Who created Bitcoin Cash?
BCH was a result of a community schism, and its major differences from BTC were devised by a group of developers. Out of all of them, Amory Sechet and Roger Ver are some of the most prominent figures.
What is Bitcoin Cash vs Bitcoin? Is Bitcoin Cash the same as Bitcoin?
No, they are different networks. Bitcoin Cash used to be the same as Bitcoin but due to a chain split they became incompatible.
What is Bitcoin Cash used for?
BCH’s primary use case is daily transactions and purchases. Unlike Bitcoin, its pitch is electronic peer-to-peer cash with low transaction costs.
What is BTC Cash?
The naming might be confusing at first but Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) meaning two different cryptocurrencies. Technically, there are no cryptocurrencies named BTC Cash, Bit Coin Cash, or Bitcoincash.
Disclaimer
This article is not a piece of investment advice. When dealing with cryptocurrencies, remember that they are extremely volatile and thus, a high-risk investment. Consider investing in cryptocurrencies only after careful consideration and your own research and at your own risk.
Learn more:
Quick links:
- Exchange Ethereum to Bitcoin
- Exchange Bitcoin to Ethereum
- Exchange Bitcoin to Bitcoin Cash
- Exchange Bitcoin Cash to Bitcoin
