Bitcoin Cash, the “big block” project that forked away from the Bitcoin blockchain in August 2017, “hard forked” (split) into two different coins last week: “Bitcoin Cash ABC” (BCHABC) and “Bitcoin Cash SV” (BCHSV).
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One week later, the Bitcoin Cash ABC chain has accumulated more proof of work and has been “ahead” of the Bitcoin Cash SV chain practically since the split. Its native currency, BCHABC, is also trading higher on exchanges. Most Bitcoin Cash ABC proponents, therefore, feel victorious — but not all Bitcoin Cash SV proponents consider the battle to be over just yet.
Here are the main takeaways and latest developments following the Bitcoin Cash split.
Endurance Attack
While some expected a “hash war” to break out between the two chains (not least because nChain CEO and Bitcoin SV frontman Craig Steven Wright announced it would), there was no sign of any attacks in the first week after the split. One hint[2] that the Bitcoin Cash SV chain suffered a reorg attack (where a valid chain is replaced with an alternative valid chain) turned out to be a false alarm[3] — and it was mostly the Bitcoin Cash ABC chain that was threatened with attacks in the first place.
Instead, the “hash war” seems to have turned into what Wright and others call[4] an “endurance attack” or “persistence hunting.” The idea is that while Bitcoin Cash ABC has been able to defend its chain against attacks with hash power, this has been at great cost and cannot last forever. If and when more miners leave the network, the 51-percent attack(s) will take place.
Indeed, this looming threat continues to attract an unusual amount of hash power to the Bitcoin Cash ABC chain. Where miners often
