Bitcoin Cash

What should we do about Bitcoin Cash?

That’s the question facing industry startups, as it seems likely that a group of developers and miners might actually fork from the main bitcoin network next week, forming a brand new cryptocurrency.

Due to differences in opinion about how bitcoin should be governed and what technical features should be added to the cryptocurrency network, the idea of a split has been raised several times over the last few years. But this time, the developers behind Bitcoin Cash claim they plan to go through with it – and on a short timeline.

The cryptocurrency is breaking off from the "main" bitcoin blockchain on August 1, with the specific goal of creating a competing cryptocurrency. Everyone who owns bitcoin will have an equal amount of Bitcoin Cash – if and when users and miners split off.

While users are wondering how it will affect them (i.e. how to access Bitcoin Cash and whether they should buy, sell, or "hodl" this new type of bitcoin) the ecosystem's third-party companies are grappling with this question as well – especially those that retain custody of funds in some capacity.

Unsure if the new cryptocurrency will rally users – or if it will just fade away – wallet providers, exchanges and mining pools are all issuing statements about how they will deal with the split and how users can respond.

But for most, it's more than a question of politics.

For the CEO of the bitcoin app Coins.ph, Ron Hose, the bitcoin scaling debate has been an economic drain, not only in the mental effort he's put into wrapping his head around the changes, but also in the actions he might need to take to now secure potentially vulnerable customers funds.

Hose told CoinDesk:

"The biggest cost is time and distraction from executing on what we see as core to our mission of providing financial services to the unbanked."

Still, he called the features that Bitcoin Cash offers (not necessarily the project itself) "necessary for bitcoin to continue to evolve as a financial railway," adding that a block size increase could become a "welcome improvement" despite the short-term headaches.