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The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) hard fork hash war officially began earlier today after days of preparation. After appearing to take an early lead prior to the hard fork, Bitcoin SV has dropped to second place behind the Bitcoin ABC implementation in the first few hours after the hard fork took place.
Two symbols have emerged from the war, including BAB for the BCH ABC implementation and BSV for the BCH Satoshi Vision implementation.
Itâs BAB versus BSV in this ongoing hashwar. The winner will earn the right to the Bitcoin Cash ticker symbol.
The BCH community has never been as toxic as it is right now. Some see Craig Wright, who backs BSV, as a crypto prophet and the main man behind the Satoshi Nakamoto identity who created bitcoin. Others see Wright as a scam artist and megalomaniac.
Today, the battle continues to rage on. On one side, we have Jihan Wu, Bitmain, and Roger Ver, who are leading the Bitcoin Cash ABC implementation. On the other side, we have Craig Wright, nChain, Calvin Ayre, and CoinGeek.
Part of what makes this hard fork war so intriguing is the closeness of hashpower: Coingeek wields an enormous amount of hashpower, and Coingeek supports Craig Wright and nChain. Other smaller members of the community, however, have backed Bitcoin ABC. The split is roughly equal between BAB and BSV.
Despite the controversy, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) remains the worldâs fourth largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Its price has sunk over the last week amidst plummeting crypto prices. Today, BCH sits at around $415.
Bitcoin Cash ABC Takes the Lead
The Bitcoin Cash ABC hard fork (BAB) took the lead early in the hash war, mining the first two blocks per the new consensus rules.
As reported by AMB Crypto, the ABC team was able to mine the first two blocks before the BSV team had mined their first block.
Major exchanges like Bitfinex, meanwhile, have announced that the new ticker symbol will be decided after the hard fork is complete.
What Will Happen Next?
The hard fork officially occurred on November 15. While Bitcoin ABC is out to an early lead, it remains to be seen where the chips will fall.
One of the biggest concerns is with an attack from Craig Wright and CoinGeek. The Bitcoin SV side appears to be reserving a significant portion of its hashpower for an unknown reason. Some believe this hashpower is being reserved for an attack.
As reported by CCN.com:
âBitcoin ABCâs self-proclaimed âbenevolent dictator,â Amaury SĂ©chet, said that he believes, due to metrics that are publicly available, that BCH mining pool CoinGeek is presently preparing an attack against the ABC chain. He cited the fact that they did not appear to be using anywhere near their normal 2 exahash worth of mining power in the immediate aftermath of the fork.â
SĂ©chet acknowledged that Bitcoin ABCâs early lead is partially due to the fact that CoinGeek isnât using its full mining power.
âWhat we are seeing right now, though â or rather, what we are not seeing right now, is CoinGeek and BMGâs hashrate. Right? Itâs completely gone. Itâs not winning, mining anywhere that we can see. What that tells me is, you know, they have not thrown like 2 exahash at this, right? So they are preparing some kind of attack.â
The more blocks that Bitcoin ABC can add to its chain, the safer the chain will be in the long run. However, itâs unclear how many blocks would need to be added to the chain to safeguard the network. As more blocks get added to the Bitcoin ABC chain, it will take more computing power to reverse those blocks via a 51% attack.
Ultimately, the Bitcoin Cash hashwar continues to rage on â and the outcome of this war will have a significant impact on Bitcoin Cash moving forward.
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