In just a matter of hours an entirely new cryptocurrency is likely to be created.
If you haven't be following along, reading the news, or basically been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks, August 1st is the date I am referring to and Bitcoin Cash is the new currency set to be created.
Poof, just like that out of thin air a brand new Bitcoin competitor will be born.
No, this coin won't be Bitcoin and it won't be part of Bitcoin, well other than it's transaction history being the same as Bitcoin's transaction history, but going forward it will be completely independent and separate from Bitcoin.
Some more about it can be read here:
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@jrcornel/bitcoin-cash-big-deal-or-not
Why will it be created?
Ever since SegWit was signaled and started to be implemented, some of Bitcoin's players were not happy with that outcome.
Their belief is that SegWit doesn't go far enough to solve Bitcoin's scaling problems and believe that a hard fork will be necessary at some point any ways, so might as well do it now.
SegWit is set to increase block sizes from 1 MB to 2 MB. That is nice and all but Bitcoin Cash's block size will be 8 MB. It goes much further in solving the scaling problem.
What happens August 1st?
Well, on August 1st, at 12:20 PM UTC, Bitcoin is set to split into two separate chains.
Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.
Holders of Bitcoin will automatically get a corresponding number of Bitcoin Cash.
That means that if you own 10 Bitcoins in your wallet at the time of the "split", you will automatically receive 10 Bitcoin Cash as well.
*Keep in mind that some exchanges will not credit bitcoin owners with the newly created Bitcoin Cash, so make sure you have your Bitcoins on an exchange that will or in a personal wallet.
That sounds great and all, but doesn't that make it more like a Bitcoin dividend than an actual split?
Kinda, sorta, yes.
As of right now Bitcoin Cash is trading for 13% the price of Bitcoin.
That means that as of August 1st 12:20 PM UTC roughly $6 Billion dollars of new market cap will be created basically out of thin air.
Anytime someone gets something for free, what do you think they will do with it?
There is also the possibility that Bitcoin will pull back in a corresponding amount of the value of Bitcoin Cash. Meaning that if Bitcoin Cash is worth 13% of Bitcoin at the time of the "split", the price of Bitcoin will likely pull back roughly 13% from it's price at the time of the split.
There is no free lunch...
Many are thinking that once Bitcoin holders receive this roughly 13% "dividend/split" they will immediately dump it, especially since some of the major exchanges are signalling that they will not support it.
However, the much larger block size of Bitcoin Cash could prove to be very attractive in the future, so much so that at some point if Bitcoin Cash survives long enough it is feasible that we could see the majority of Bitcoin users move over to Bitcoin Cash because of the larger block size and the ultimately faster and cheaper transactions.
The question becomes, will that be enough to overcome the selling that will likely happen when Bitcoin Cash is credited to Bitcoin owners on August 1st?
In order to think about what might happen, try to think about what you specifically will do with your newly credited Bitcoin Cash.
What will you do?
Will you sell for the nice little bonus, or hold for the potential long term benefits that may or may never realize?
Let me know in the comments section below.
Stay informed my friends!
Sources:
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4092388-bitcoin-august-1st-event-latest-developments-long-term-investors-aware
http://fortune.com/2017/07/30/bitcoin-cash-fork/
Image Sources:
https://themerkle.com/bitcoin-cash-is-not-free-money/
http://josephhoran.com/what-will-you-do/
