The unexpected statement by Bitcoin Cash about the fork release on August 1 was taken by surprise by many. In this article I will explain what Bitcoin Cash (BCC) is, how it affects you and how you need to prepare by August 1.
What is Bitcoin Cash?
Announcement of the project on Bitcointalk
Project site
From the FAQ on the project site:
What is Bitcoin Cash? Bitcoin Cash is a peer-to-peer e-currency for the Internet. It is completely decentralized, does not have a central bank and does not require trusted third parties to operate.
The phrase "peer-to-peer e-currency" is deliberately emphasized. Bitcoin Cash aims to become a crypto currency, focusing on the bandwidth of transactions.
Why did this fork come as a surprise?
Many believed that this fork will take place only if the BIP148 will be able to divide the network. In other words, many believed that Bitcoin Cash (and its Bitcoin ABC client) was only threatening to prevent the competitive user-activated soft-fork (UASF). Bitmain, in fact, declared the preference of Segwit2x (the "New York Agreement").
Therefore, naturally, when BIP91 (the first part of Segwit2x) was confirmed and activated before BIP148, scheduled for August 1, most believed that this would prevent the so-called user activated hard fork (UAHF).
But, it seems, the supporters of Bitcoin Cash had other ideas.
Why should this worry?
This should excite you, because Bitcoin Cash is the permanent fork of Bitcoin.
Again, from the FAQ:
Is Bitcoin Cash different from Bitcoin? Yes.
Bitcoin Cash is the continuation of the Bitcoin project as a peer-to-peer digital currency. This is the fork of the Bitcoin blockbuster registry with improved consensus rules that make it possible to grow and scale.
This means that if you had bitcoins (that is, you control your own private keys) to fork on August 1, 2017 at 12:20 UTC, then after the fork you will have the same amount of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.
So that you do not think that these BCC are worthless, BCC futures are now traded on ViaBTC for about $ 475.
What do I need to know?
First, you need to know that many exchanges, including Coinbase, were simply not ready for this event.
And again from the FAQ:
If I have Bitcoin, then I also have Bitcoin Cash automatically?
Yes. Since Bitcoin Cash is the fork of the registry, it means that you have as much Bitcoin Cash as you had bitcoins at the time of the fork of the block. However, if your bitcoins are stored by a third party, such as a stock exchange, then you should check with her about Bitcoin Cash.
Pay attention to the last sentence. Exchanges or third parties storing bitcoins may or may not issue you Bitcoin Cash. Perhaps, third parties will try to do everything right, but it is impossible to know if they will be able to organize everything in time to be able to give you Bitcoin Cash, to which you are entitled.
Secondly, all hard forks are subject to two risks: replay and erasure attacks. The risk of erasure is not so great, because it is a permanent fork (scenarios are possible where one blocker miners can attack another, but they are not implemented yet). Replay protection is provided as part of the Bitcoin Cash launch, as explained in the FAQ:
How do you decide to replay transactions between a new and an old blockbuster?
Bitcoin Cash transactions use the new SIGHASH_FORKID flag, which is non-standard for the old blockbuster. This prevents Bitcoin Cash from playing again in Bitcoin and vice versa.
Be sure that if you control your private keys, you will have the option to use these keys to securely create transactions on any locker.
I thought that Bitcoin solved the problem of scaling! Why is this happening?
Good question. After the drama with the scaling that lasted the last few years, we finally made progress when BIP91 was confirmed on Thursday. Although Segwit increases the bandwidth of transactions, then, as it does, not everyone likes.
The BCC seems to be targeting a segment of Bitcoin users who do not like Segwit. Because Segwit is activated on Bitcoin, this fork offers many people an alternative.
From the FAQ:
Why did you need a fork to create Bitcoin Cash?
In the old Bitcoin code, the maximum data limit per block was 1MB, or approximately 3 transactions per second. Although it is not difficult to technically raise this bar, the community could not reach consensus even after years of disputes.
So what are the features of Bitcoin Cash?
Bitcoin Cash has three distinctive features. First, it offers a much larger block size - 8 MB.
Secondly, it offers protection against repetition and erasure. The signature of transactions is slightly different, and the fork unit must be greater than 1 MB.
Thirdly, it offers the ability to adjust the complexity of proof-of-work faster than the usual complexity adjustment interval in 2016 blocks, using