Bitcoin Cash (EXANTE: Bitcoin.Cash) appeared as a result of the scalability problems inherent in Bitcoin (EXANTE: Bitcoin). The idea is that the more users are online and the more they make transactions, the slower the network works - a block of 1 MB is filled up faster than it is mined. As a result, transactions become slow and expensive.
Bitcoin Cash was initially created with an 8MB block, which was later on increased in size to 32MB, which means that each block received by the miners can be used to process more transactions, and many believe that this is a step in the right direction.
Many believe that this is only a temporary "patch", which does not fix the problem at the root and so they proposed the SegWit protocol, which now works in the initial branch of the Bitcoin blockchain and involves breaking up transactions into smaller and more manageable fragments.
If you don’t feel like debating and just want to become the proud owner of Bitcoin Cash – this guide is for you.
1. Get a wallet
First of all you need a wallet in which you will store your purchased cryptocurrency. Many providers and platforms are unwilling to implement Bitcoin Cash, and each has its own reasons.
As for the wallets, many of them already support Bitcoin Cash.
The most well-known hardware wallets Ledger and Trezor support Bitcoin Cash.
There are a lot of software wallets with Bitcoin Cash support - perhaps you are using one already for Bitcoin. For example, Exodus provides an opportunity to convert one cryptocurrency into another right inside the wallet.
Electron Cash is just a version of Electrum, so if you are used to the latter, you will not have any problems.
Other wallets that support BCH include Keepkey, BTC.com, Bitpay, and Coinomi. All available options can be found on the official website bitcoincash.org.
2. Choose Bitcoin Cash Exchange
Most Bitcoin exchanges will also allow you to buy Bitcoin Cash, here are top ones around:
- eToro allows users from around the world to buy and sell Bitcoin Cash with a variety of payment methods.
- Coinmama also allows you to buy Bitcoin Cash with a credit card, debit card or SEPA transfer.
- US-based crypto trading platform Coinbase also offers Bitcoin Cash support and buy/sell options.
- Another good option is CEX.IO. This London-based company exists since 2013, and managed to earn a name and experience. There is a large selection of currencies, and Bitcoin Cash is one of them. If you just want to buy a certain currency, there is an option of a quick purchase using a credit card.
Just keep in mind that the option with a credit card is quite expensive. To save money, you can make a deposit through a bank transfer.
All available exchanges can be found on the official Bitcoin Cash website.
3. Move your Bitcoin Cash to wallet
We do not recommend leaving your funds on the stock exchange. Once you buy Bitcoin Cash, immediately transfer it to your own wallet, where the private keys are under your control.
Next, you need to follow the progress of the transaction using the Bitcoin Cash block explorer, and only after receiving three transaction confirmations can we assume that the process has been successfully completed.
To sum up
Bitcoin Cash has not gained full acceptance by large parts of the cryptocurrency community yet.
Bitcoin Cash has the advantage of being the most widely accepted fork of Bitcoin. Most forks have not received much attention from users or the media. However, we are sure this cryptocurrency will eventually find real use cases.