The highly anticipated SegWit activation of the Bitcoin blockchain finally happened late on the 1^st of August, 2017. Despite the larger Bitcoin mining community reaching and even surpassing emergent consensus threshold, the bitcoin blockchain still split to give birth to a new currency in Bitcoin Cash.

The resultant split in the bitcoin blockchain shows that the resolve of the minority dissenting miners was strong. Their resolve was so strong a new cryptocurrency was created off the back of Bitcoin with an initial value of a little over $400.

Bitcoin being the first digital currency built on blockchain technology was created based on the principle of decentralization such that the role of middlemen such as banks is eliminated in financial transactions. Bitcoin cash is built on the same blockchain technology network as Bitcoin, however the new cryptocurrency increases the size of ‘blocks’ in order to allow the network process more information.

It is believed in some circles that Bitcoin Cash will be a breathe of fresh air to the 10 year old real Bitcoin. Supporters of Bitcoin Cash are of the view that the new cryptocurrency will help address recent challenges the Bitcoin blockchain has been experiencing such as slow transaction speed.

At the heart of this Bitcoin blockchain tussle is the core developers on the one hand who believe that the blocks should remain smaller so that their susceptibility to hacking remains minimal. Then we have the miners on the other side who want bigger blocks to be able to execute more and faster transactions.

Despite the seeming faster transaction time Bitcoin Cash offers, only a smaller number of bitcoin miners and exchanges intend to support it. This is likely to have a downward effect on the value of Bitcoin Cash which is to be traded under the name BCH.

Predictions on the future of Bitcoin Cash remain mixed. If BCH be a force to reckon with, it will need more support within the Bitcoin community to give it a solid backing, until then players in the space will likely remain “cross-fingered”.