Thursday, November 15, is the day that all Bitcoin enthusiasts have been waiting for with bated breaths. Why is that day special? Well, on that day, Bitcoin Cash, which is the fourth-largest cryptocurrency and the most famous hard fork of Bitcoin, will divide into two, creating another cryptocurrency in the process.

From Bitcoin Cash, the two cryptocurrencies will then be named Bitcoin SV (Satoshi’s Vision) and Bitcoin ABC (main Bitcoin Cash).

For those who don’t know, a hard fork takes place when miners and developers stop agreeing to a “proposed change to the software, despite operating on the same blockchain.” When the fork occurs, one group of nodes will keep operating on the old rules while the other will upgrade to the new software, resulting in two separate cryptocurrencies and blockchains.

What caused the split?

Amaury Sechet, a Bitcoin Cash developer, proposed an upgrade “that added a minor change to transaction ordering.” This was, however, met with disagreement that escalated and resulted in two opposing camps manned by Craig Wright and Roger Ver.

Wright, an Australian who has often claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, has thrown his weight behind Satoshi’s Vision, arguing that the software should not deviate from the original Bitcoin. To show his support, he increased the maximum block size from 32MB to 128MB. Ver, on the other hand, is backing the software upgrade proposed by Sechet.

Irrespective of the bickering between these two prominent crypto personalities, they have no say in the success of each coin. That task rests solely on miners who will be committing their hash power to each cryptocurrency. It is obvious that the miners will “commit their power to whichever coin is more profitable to mine.”

Reactions from the crypto industry

As for opinions from the crypto industry, the consensus is that Bitcoin ABC would be preferred by the miners. Coin Dance has a contrary claim, however. The data monitoring website has projected 60% of the hash power to go to Bitcoin SV.

Most crypto exchanges have refused to join the feud, preferring to support both cryptocurrencies, instead. Major exchanges such as Bitfinex, Coinbase, and Binance have declared their support for the hard fork. What this means for owners of Bitcoin Cash is that once the network is upgraded, they will receive 1:1 per new coin. BitMEX is the only crypto exchange supporting one side. In a blog post, the exchange said, “Bitcoin Cash is expected to conduct a hard fork upgrade on 15 November 2018. On settlement, the BCHZ18 contract will settle at a price on the Bitcoin ABC side of any split and will not include the value of Bitcoin SV.”

In conclusion

All is now set for the hard fork upgrade that is expected to happen to Bitcoin Cash on Thursday. The split will result in the formation of two separate cryptocurrencies, which will be known as Bitcoin SV (Satoshi’s Vision) and Bitcoin ABC (the main Bitcoin Cash).

Subscribe to the ICOholder’s newsletter to get the latest scoop and happenings in the world of blockchain and crypto.