Although bitcoin, bitcoin cash and bitcoin sv have similar sounding names, there are key differences between these cryptocurrencies. Unfortunately, for those new to crypto, these differences may not be immediately obvious.
Reading: Bitcoin sv vs bitcoin
In this guide, you will learn about the history and technical specifications of bitcoin (btc), bitcoin cash (bch), and bitcoin sv (bsv) to understand the differences between them.
bitcoins
bitcoin (btc) has the distinction of being the world’s first cryptocurrency. Created by pseudonymous inventor Satoshi Nakamoto, the digital currency launched the era of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology when it went live on January 3, 2009.
It is important to note that Nakamoto published a document explaining in great detail the technical specifications of its creation on October 31, 2008, known as the bitcoin whitepaper. At 2:10 p.m. Eastern Standard time, people who had signed up for the cypherpunk-focused crypto mailing list hosted on metzdwowd received a message from nakamoto titled “bitcoin p2p e-cash paper”.
In the message, Nakamoto stated that he had been “working on a new electronic cash system that is fully peer-to-peer, without a trusted third party,” which he believed would usher in a new era where users could have financial sovereignty. . a few months later, nakamoto mined the genesis block from the bitcoin blockchain, embedding text in the coinbase that read “the times jan/03/2009 chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.” p>
In the following decade, bitcoin grew in popularity, fueling the development of myriad cryptocurrencies. These new digital currencies came to be known as altcoins, short for alternative currencies, because they were introduced to the market with the goal of providing alternatives to bitcoin.
examples of altcoins include litecoin, which was designed to be the “digital silver” of bitcoin’s “digital gold”, bitcoin cash, and bitcoin sv.
the technical details
Bitcoin is an open and decentralized peer-to-peer payment network. This means that anyone with an internet connection can join the bitcoin network and execute financial transactions on it.
See also: How to Make Your Twitter Account Private
nakamoto designed the network this way, as it would give it a number of beneficial features. To join the network and participate as a node, you simply need an internet connection and enough memory to download the blockchain.
The fact that anyone can join the network gives it greater protection from censorship by central authorities, such as governments. Due to the continued strength of the bitcoin network over the years, the decentralized and distributed peer-to-peer template has become an accepted standard for creating new cryptocurrencies, especially if they hope to stand the test of time.
bitcoin is also the first use case of the blockchain. A blockchain refers to a ledger that is based on data sets that are linked together. each data set is linked to the previous one using cryptography. these data sets are called blocks, hence the term blockchain. On the bitcoin network, each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and data about the transactions contained in the block.
Distributed networks, like bitcoin, face a peculiar problem. they require a tool through which independent parties, in this case nodes, can come to an agreement on a specific issue. in cryptography, this problem is known as the Byzantine generals problem. a consensus mechanism is, therefore, how distributed networks achieve the finality in a certain topic. To support the creation of a globally accepted state of the ledger, the bitcoin network leverages a proof-of-work (pow) consensus mechanism.
Proof of work is a consensus mechanism that requires nodes to spend energy to solve complex mathematical equations. nodes will try to find the correct value of a random math problem. only once they have successfully calculated the correct value can they add a new block to the ledger. In the context of bitcoin, nodes that try to add new nodes to the ledger are called bitcoin miners.
It is important to note that a number of factors in its design are essential to the immutability of the bitcoin ledger. To begin with, when a new node joins the network, it must download the entire blockchain. everyone has access to the agreed and verified version of the facts. As a result, it is very difficult to reverse the ledger and introduce counterfeit transactions.
In addition, there is the fact that they generate large amounts of energy. therefore, for an attacker or malicious party to edit or falsify the ledger, they must have access to a great deal of energy and money to fund this effort. the size and scope of the bitcoin network make this an almost impossible feat.
In exchange for their work to secure and add new blocks to the ledger, miners are entitled to a certain number of new bitcoins per block. this number changes at preset intervals (every four years). this is also the mechanism through which new bitcoins are put into circulation. the maximum amount of bitcoin that will ever exist is 21 million.
Finally, the bitcoin network is based on the principle of voluntary actions. each node can join and leave the network at will. similarly, if users cannot agree on the way forward, they can branch out and create their own blockchain. the longest chain represents the agreed version of the story. however, if either party at any time wishes to branch out and create a new chain, they are free to do so. this is typically called a hard fork.
cash money
See also: Top 30 nikola one release date best now
bitcoin cash (bch) is a hard fork of the original bitcoin blockchain. the altcoin was born on August 1, 2017, following growing tensions among members of the bitcoin community over scaling concerns and how to address them.
Most of the bitcoin community believed that the implementation of an upgrade known as segwit would be enough to significantly improve processing capabilities on the bitcoin network. however, a relatively small but determined group of people believed that increasing the block size would be necessary to better scale the network. Led by leader Roger Ver, the group implemented its own software update at block height 478559, creating a new cryptocurrency.
The new digital currency became known as bitcoin cash, an allusion to the ideological divide that fueled the entire debate. The bitcoin cash camp believed that the increase in block size would lead to ease of use, allowing people to employ the cryptocurrency as a transactional currency in everyday situations.
Technically speaking, bitcoin cash is quite similar in many ways to its parent, bitcoin. both employ pow as a consensus mechanism with a focus on the sha256 algorithm. In addition, both have the halving of the reward at predetermined times.
The big defining difference between these two is the fact that bitcoin cash has a much larger block size to include more transactions in the pool and therefore better scale the network. this difference makes them non-exchangeable and therefore separate and distinct cryptocurrencies.
bitcoin sv
On November 15, 2018, the bitcoin cash blockchain underwent a hard fork, resulting in the creation of a new cryptocurrency called bitcoin sv (bsv). bitcoin sv stands for bitcoin satoshi vision. the name of the digital currency is a reference to the differences that led to the field of bitcoin cash further splitting in two.
As we’ve seen once before, bitcoin sv advocates and the bitcoin cash community differed on block size. the bitcoin cash community wanted the block size to remain at 32mb, while the bitcoin sv camp wanted it to increase to 132mb. these differences proved irreconcilable, leading to the hard fork that ultimately created bitcoin sv.
In terms of technical specifications, bitcoin sv differs primarily from bitcoin cash and bitcoin only in block size. it is this feature that has proven to be the biggest and most irreconcilable difference.
Although bitcoin, bitcoin cash and bitcoin sv may share a name, they are all different cryptocurrencies. bitcoin is the world’s first digital currency, while bitcoin cash and bitcoin sv are altcoins that aim to fulfill different roles than bitcoin has today.
See also: Allbirds Business Model In A Nutshell – FourWeekMBA
