Vote With Your Money › Bitcoin Cash vs Bitcoin
Bitcoin Cash vs Bitcoin
Same start, same 21 million coin limit, same ten-minute blocks. They split in 2017 over one question: should Bitcoin be cash people spend every day, or something people hold?
Why there are two
Up to August 1, 2017, Bitcoin was one coin on one chain. Its blocks were capped at 1 MB, and when it got busy, payments waited and fees climbed. Some people wanted bigger blocks, so everyday payments could keep going straight on the chain, cheap. Others wanted to keep the blocks small and move everyday payments onto a second layer built on top, like the Lightning Network.
They didn't agree, so it split. Bitcoin Cash went its own way at block 478,559, with bigger blocks. Anyone who held Bitcoin at that moment ended up with the same amount of both. BTC kept the small blocks.
Both still go back to the same 2008 white paper, "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System". Bitcoin Cash is the one that kept the "electronic cash" part.
Side by side
| Bitcoin (BTC) | Bitcoin Cash (BCH) | |
|---|---|---|
| Coin limit | 21 million | 21 million |
| New block | About every 10 minutes | About every 10 minutes |
| Block size limit | 4 million "weight units", which works out to somewhere between 1 and 4 MB | 32 MB since 2018. Since May 2024 the limit adjusts itself, growing as more people use it |
| Fee to pay someone | Low when it's quiet, can climb to dollars a payment when it's busy | Usually a fraction of a cent |
| Paying at the counter | A payment that hasn't gone into a block yet can be replaced with a higher-fee one, so the safe thing is to wait for a block | No replacing. A shop can take the payment in seconds |
| Tokens and NFTs | Not built into the coin | Built in since May 2023 (CashTokens) |
| Smart contracts | Kept deliberately limited | CashScript: escrow, vaults, recurring payments, crowdfunding, on the coin itself |
| Everyday payments | Mostly pushed to a second layer (Lightning) | Straight on the chain, no second layer needed |
| Privacy, if you want it | CoinJoin tools | CashFusion |
What that means when you pay
Say you buy a coffee. With Bitcoin Cash, you scan the shop's code, the payment shows up on their screen in seconds, it costs you a fraction of a cent, and it can't be swapped out for another payment once it's sent, so they hand you the coffee. With BTC on the main chain, the fee depends on how busy it is, and the shop should wait for a block, often ten minutes or more, before it's safe. That's why BTC users who want to buy coffee use a separate layer like Lightning, and why Bitcoin Cash users don't need one.
Since May 2024, Bitcoin Cash's block size limit grows by itself as more people use it. So the fee stays tiny as it gets busier, instead of climbing the way BTC's does.
So which one?
Be fair about it: BTC is far bigger. More people hold it, more places list it, and its price is much higher. If all you want is something to buy and hold, that's why most people pick BTC.
But a coin you can't afford to spend isn't cash. If you want to pay people, tip artists and buy things with no bank or card company in the middle, Bitcoin Cash is built for exactly that. That's why this site says spend in Bitcoin Cash.
Don't mix them up
They're different coins with different addresses. Send one to the other's address and it's usually lost.
- BTC addresses start with 1, 3 or bc1.
- Bitcoin Cash addresses usually start with bitcoincash: or q. Some older ones also start with 1 or 3, so always check which coin the app says you're sending.
Nothing here is financial advice. The price of both goes up and down, sometimes a lot.