You might have heard of zombie startups. These are organizations that have stagnant growth and lack a unique value proposition yet somehow maintain just enough community support to stay in business. They exist in the blockchain community as well.
BCH has morphed into the walking dead of public blockchains. The network failed to gain traction and grow into the thriving global P2P cash system promoters touted. It’s continually setback by internal developer dysfunction and infighting.
Yet BCH is still trudging along, supported by a 2.5 EH/s hash rate at the time of this writing.
It’s a wonder how a project that lacks the utility and enthusiasm of Bitcoin SV (BSV) continues to stay around after the halving. At least, BTC can lay claim to a sizable cult community of devotees.
Block reward miners powering the BCH network doing so at a loss. They are underpinning the failed blockchain during a time when they could easily divert their computing power to a more profitable project.
There are valid reasons it would make sense for organizations to continue fueling projects unapologetically, even while losing money. Amazon famously lost money for years before reporting a profitable quarter, yet shareholders didn’t mind because it was growing. It had a clear mission, a pathway to success, and a team capable of executing.
I cannot say the same for the BCH blockchain. Supporters are leaving money on the table for nothing, and ideology isn’t a driving force amongst them.
Bitcoin SV is the only public blockchain project that scales and has utility. It boasts a thriving developer ecosystem and growing transaction volumes that will, over time, support the transaction processors supporting the network.
The BSV network is the only project that offers the Bitcoin protocol outlined by Satoshi in his groundbreaking white paper.
The BCH hashrate chart is dominated by a China-based cabal of mining pools and hardware manufacturers. These wealthy benefactors are giving what amounts to a gift to the BCH community though propping up the network. What are they getting in return?
Per a report by Cointelegraph, on April 8, the hash price of BCH was roughly 30% lower than that of BTC. If block reward miners wanted to maximize their profits, some would have jumped to BTC and Bitcoin SV until the difficulty adjusted. They ignored a difficult adjustment algorithm gaming opportunity that would have benefited their balance sheets.
It’s safe to assume that some organizations such as Bitmain are too heavily entrenched in BCH to see it fail right now. They have a strategic interest in keeping the BCH blockchain alive instead of mining more profitable SHA-256 digital tokens. During their failed IPO, online news sites reported Bitmain held 1 million BCH on their balance sheet.
Bitmain is in the midst of its civil war as its two co-founders vie for control of the organization. Regardless, whoever is keeping the BCH blockchain afloat could only be in a similar financial situation and waiting for an offramp that mitigates their losses.
BCH evangelists have had little to no recent progress to report and galvanize its community. Despite mounting evidence that their project has hit a dead end, they continue peddling false narratives that they carry the mantle of Bitcoin’s P2P cash system ambitious.
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