Bitcoin Cash was created in August 2017 when it forked from the original Bitcoin chain. The reason for its fork was simple: increase the block size from 1mb to 8mb to allow for greater transaction throughput. The two years prior to this hard fork were full of hotly contested debates; users, developers and companies attempted to reach an agreement that would enable greater scalability of the Bitcoin blockchain without compromising security or decentralization. Debates turned into bitter fighting and partisanship, which then culminated in the fork of August 2017 and the inception of Bitcoin Cash.
Bitcoin still struggles to scale effectively and some see Bitcoin Cash as potentially displacing Bitcoin in the years ahead. Those who choose to gamble with Bitcoin Cash may find this thought appealing – as the value of their winnings could be multiplied several fold should BCH take Bitcoin’s place.
In May 2018, the Bitcoin Cash development team increased the blocksize further; quadrupling in size to 32mb.