Hard forks and lack of governance were a huge issue during the rise of cryptocurrency back in late 2017. It seems this hasn’t changed in 2018, as we have just encountered a new Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) Cash hard fork controversy.

Hard forks are required for large blockchain network updates and require all nodes running the network to switch over to the new chain at a designated block number. Unfortunately, not every node running the network agrees with the direction of the project and decides to start its own fork with other nodes—creating a new ‘forked’ chain and new digital currency.

Hard fork splits in 2017 brought about the digital currencies Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) Cash (BCH), Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) Gold (BTG), Ethereum (available on Coinbase) Classic (ETC), Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) Diamond (BCD), Monero Classic (XMC), and Monero Original (XMO).

Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) Cash Hard Fork Controversy

On November 15th, Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) Cash underwent its second scheduled protocol upgrade. However, a competing proposal emerged that was not compatible with the original roadmap and caused the BCH community to be split into three fractions: Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) ABC, Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) Unlimited, and Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) SV.

Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) ABC represents the conservative approach to the update, which aims to preserve Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) Cash from radical changes. ABC is led by Roger Ver, CEO of Bitcoin (available on Coinbase).com. Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) ABC is also backed and represented by Binance, Coinbase, and Bitmain.