Original Bitcoin is Reborn with Bitcoin SV (BSV); BCH Hash War Ends

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

CoinGeek Mining is pleased to announce the original Bitcoin is back with Bitcoin SV (ticker: BSV). CoinGeek will support a permanent chain split from Bitcoin Cash (BCH), continue mining the BSV chain, and will work with others globally to establish a vibrant ecosystem for the BSV coin. This ends the on-going BCH hash war triggered by the November 15, 2018 network upgrade.

Bitcoin SV, which stands for Satoshi Vision, has a straightforward and clear mission: fulfil the vision set out by Satoshi Nakamoto’s original Bitcoin white paper. BSV’s roadmap is to restore the original Satoshi protocol for Bitcoin, keep it stable, enable it to massively scale, and allow major enterprises to confidently build on top of the BSV blockchain.

After a November 15, 2018 network upgrade, BCH forked into two competing chains that have been battling for miner votes to lead the network rule set. ABC supporters used a burst of rented hash power to create the illusion of an early lead, whilst the Bitcoin SV miners used their own genuine investment in mining hash to provide a dominant lead before the hard fork and a consistent level of support since then. Since ABC’s artificial early lead, the Bitcoin SV chain has gained ground. On November 25, the BSV chain significantly led ABC as the longest chain, at times over 30 blocks ahead. Bitcoin SV also reduced ABC’s lead in accumulated Proof of Work to a 26% margin (down from over 55% just a few days ago). Thus, the hash war was trending exactly as CoinGeek predicted, with SV’s sustained hash prepared to outlast and eventually overtake “rented” or subsidized hash for ABC.

But within just a week of the November 15 upgrade, ABC hastily implemented numerous controversial changes, some of them hard forks – such as adding checkpoints, a 10-block reorganization defense. ABC also demonstrated clear intent to abandon the Nakamoto consensus Proof of Work security model with plans to add Avalanche, a pre-consensus system for miners to agree in advance about the next block size and move BCH towards a Proof of Stake system. These changes mean that ABC has abandoned fundamental principles of Bitcoin – the Nakamoto consensus and miners’ Proof of Work to determine the valid blockchain – and bears even less resemblance to Bitcoin than BTC’s SegWit coin.

CoinGeek founder Calvin Ayre comments:

“After Bitcoin Core became SegWit coin last year, our mission has always been to make sure the original Bitcoin survives and succeeds. With its series of radical and unilateral code changes in just the last week, ABC’s BCH has departed so far from the original Bitcoin that it is now an alt-coin developer experiment and we no longer have any interest in it or its tarnished brand. Bitcoin SV fought to preserve the Satoshi Vision, and is the original Bitcoin. We will now focus entirely on building upon an already vibrant Bitcoin SV ecosystem. Although ABC may keep the damaged BCH ticker symbol, BSV is winning over BCH’s native application ecosystem in droves. We look forward to out-competing BCH (and BTC) in the marketplace, rather than in further chain battles.”

In a short time, a BSV ecosystem has already quickly grown. Many exchanges are already trading Bitcoin SV (identified to date as both BSV and BCH-SV), as listed on CoinMarketCap. Numerous BCH wallets, applications, and services also announced they will support BSV, with many choosing to support only BSV rather than ABC. The growing list features some of the most popular (former) BCH applications, such as HandCash and Centbee wallets, Money Button, Yours.org, and Keyport TV. The Tokenized platform, which won CoinGeek’s £5M contest, is also moving its best-in-class, business-friendly tokenisation solution to BSV.

To support further growth of BSV, stability for users is a key priority. CoinGeek has consulted with the Bitcoin SV development team about stability measures. Steve Shadders, Technical Director of the Bitcoin SV project, explains:

“One aspect of stability is replay protection. Since ABC has not made this stability a priority, Bitcoin SV will do so in order to restore confidence to users and businesses on both chains. This change will require the Bitcoin SV team to work with the Bitcoin ecosystem, and the timeline will be announced when there is adequate ecosystem readiness.”

Meanwhile, the Bitcoin SV team has prepared a helpful user guide explaining how users can safely split their BCH coins into ABC and BSV coins. The user guide will be updated periodically as more tools are developed.

Ayre observes:

“The smart money is on BSV. Because it is the original Bitcoin, BSV will generate the future value that was always envisioned for Bitcoin. While the current market price is depressed for other cryptocurrencies, BSV is the only token postured to increase significantly in value because its roadmap plans for big enterprise usage. We’re excited to help fulfil the Satoshi Vision, and invite all Bitcoin believers to join the BSV journey.”