BCH/BTC: Convert and Swap Bitcoin Cash (BCH) to Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a decentralized cryptocurrency that operates on a peer-to-peer network. It aims to provide a global electronic cash system characterized by swift transactions, minimal fees, privacy, and a larger block size. Bitcoin Cash is a product of a hard fork from Bitcoin (BTC) in 2017, which resulted from a community disagreement over Bitcoin scaling and the SegWit upgrade. This split led to the creation of two blockchains: Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. Bitcoin Cash strives to scale to meet the demands of a global payment system, with a block size of 32MB as of 2023, compared to Bitcoin's 1MB block size.

Bitcoin Cash operates with a larger block size, which allows for faster transaction processing and lower fees. It supports smart contracts and ecosystem apps, and like Bitcoin, it has a limited total supply of 21 million coins. Bitcoin Cash transactions are typically fast, with fees usually less than a tenth of a cent. The cryptocurrency is secured by a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism, where miners solve complex puzzles to validate transactions and create new blocks. This process, known as mining, is highly competitive and contributes to the security of the blockchain by increasing and distributing the hash rate.

Bitcoin Cash has a variety of potential use cases. It can facilitate peer-to-peer payments between individuals and can also be used to pay participating merchants for goods and services, both in-store and online. Its low fees enable new micro-transaction economies, such as tipping content creators or rewarding app users with small amounts. Bitcoin Cash can also reduce expenses and settlement times for remittances and cross-border trade. Other potential use cases include tokens, simplified smart contracts, and private payments with tools such as CashShuffle and CashFusion.

Bitcoin Cash was created in 2017 as an alternative to Bitcoin, following a disagreement within the Bitcoin community over scaling and the SegWit upgrade. The hard fork that led to the creation of Bitcoin Cash was proposed by mining hardware manufacturer Bitmain, with the aim of increasing the block size limit to allow more transactions per block. This proposal received support from some members of the Bitcoin community, including Roger Ver. Since its inception, Bitcoin Cash has faced its own challenges and milestones, including another hard fork in November 2018, which resulted in the creation of Bitcoin SV (BSV), a separate cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin (BTC) is a decentralized cryptocurrency that was first described in a 2008 whitepaper by an individual or group of individuals using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Launched in January 2009, Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer online currency that enables transactions to occur directly between equal, independent network participants without the need for an intermediary. Bitcoin was created with the intention of allowing online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution. Bitcoin is the first-ever cryptocurrency to come into actual use and has inspired the development of thousands of competing projects. The entire cryptocurrency market, now worth more than $2 trillion, is based on the idea realized by Bitcoin: money that can be sent and received by anyone, anywhere in the world without reliance on trusted intermediaries, such as banks and financial services companies.

Bitcoin operates on a technology known as blockchain, a decentralized ledger of all transactions that is used to record transactions across many computers so that any involved record cannot be altered retroactively, without the alteration of all subsequent blocks. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded on the blockchain. Bitcoin mining, the process by which new bitcoins are entered into circulation, involves solving computationally difficult puzzles to discover a new block, which is added to the blockchain. The supply of Bitcoin is limited and will never exceed 21,000,000 coins. New coins are created during the process known as mining, where transactions are added to blocks, which are in turn added to the blockchain.

Bitcoin's most unique advantage is that it was the first cryptocurrency to appear on the market. It has managed to create a global community and has given birth to an entirely new industry of millions of enthusiasts who create, invest in, trade, and use Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in their everyday lives. Bitcoin's primary use case is as a decentralized store of value. In other words, it provides for ownership rights as a physical asset or as a unit of account. Bitcoin also aims to be a medium of exchange for goods and services, although it is currently used more for the former than the latter.

Bitcoin's original inventor is known under a pseudonym, Satoshi Nakamoto. As of 2021, the true identity of the person — or organization — that is behind the alias remains unknown. On October 31, 2008, Nakamoto published Bitcoin’s whitepaper, which described in detail how a peer-to-peer, online currency could be implemented. Just two months later, on January 3, 2009, Nakamoto mined the first block on the Bitcoin network, known as the genesis block, thus launching the world’s first cryptocurrency. The first known Bitcoin commercial transaction occurred on May 22, 2010, when programmer Laszlo Hanyecz traded 10,000 Bitcoins for two pizzas. This event is now known as “Bitcoin Pizza Day.” Over the years a large number of people have contributed to improving the cryptocurrency’s software by patching vulnerabilities and adding new features. Bitcoin’s source code repository on GitHub lists more than 750 contributors.