Hard fork Bitcoin Cash (BCH): what will change?

The decentralized cryptocurrency network Bitcoin Cash has undergone an update. The opcode, which increases the block size to 32 MB, was activated on May 15. As part of this fork, only software updates are carried out. This is a hard fork associated with a major update and development of the network, similar to a soft fork.

On Tuesday, an update to the Bitcoin Cash protocol was activated, which increased the size of the protocol’s base block from 8 to 32 MB, which makes it possible to increase the number of transactions in each block and reduce fees. 

Fork also reactivated OP_CODES codes, which provide the ability to create smart contracts. Their activation will not only bring back the tools for creating smart contracts, but will also make other innovative features available. These original codes have been removed from the Bitcoin protocol since 2010. About ten opcodes were activated: OP_CAT, OP_AND, OP_OR, OP_XOR, OP_DIV, OP_MOD, OP_SPLIT, OP_NUM2BIN, OP_BIN2NUM, including the OP_RETURN solution with an increase in the data storage limit in the transaction service field to 220 bytes from the current 80. This will help ensure reliable operation of the OP_Return function, which can make it possible to use cryptocurrency similarly with Ethereum smart contracts and ERC-20 tokens. The 'OP_GROUP' code can be used to create tokens on the BCH network. 

The initiator of the hard fork, Bitcoin ABC, posted a new version of the Bitcoin ABC protocol 0.17.0 on GitHub back in early April. To prepare for the hard fork, all Bitcoin Cash full nodes, wallets, and exchange platforms had to upgrade to the new version of the protocol. 

The market reacted to the hard fork without enthusiasm, the BCH (Bitcoin. Cash) rate fell by more than 10%. Experts believe that a sharp collapse will not happen. Many cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase, Bitfinex and GDAX have already added support for this update. 

The opinions of the crypto community are divided. Skeptics believe that there is no need to increase the block size, since today there are few transactions on the BCH network and most blocks are less than 1 MB. And these changes could lead to less decentralization of the network, as well as lower propagation speeds. The optimistic development team is confident that the number of transactions will increase in the future and that as a result of the hard fork it will be possible to maintain consistent transaction throughput for billions of users.

According to https://www.bitcoinabc.org