Bitcoin Cash Declares War: Why This Could Mean Another Split

Lobbed at those bitcoin cash enthusiasts supporting Bitcoin ABC, the main implementation of the blockchain software, Craig Wright seems to have no intention to compromise as the cryptocurrency gears up for its next system-wide upgrade, or hard fork.

The controversial figure who claims that he is bitcoin's pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto has long been one of the leading figures of bitcoin cash, the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market cap, which famously broke off of bitcoin in the heat of the scaling debate last year.

While bitcoin cash has undergone several hard forks over its one-year lifespan, the forthcoming one - set for November 15 - doesn't have consensus from all the community.

Less than a week from the activation date, the debate looks like it's going to split bitcoin cash into two different cryptocurrencies - one running Bitcoin ABC and the other running software created by Wright's company nChain called Bitcoin Satoshi's Vision.

Although Wright isn't quite endorsing an attack fully, on Twitter he seemed to provide a rationale for miners to use their power to "Kill off" the blockchain running Bitcoin ABC. According to Wright, by deploying hashpower, Bitcoin SV miners can effectively mine empty blocks on the competing bitcoin cash blockchain, stopping transactions from going through.

Still, Peter R. Rizun, the chief scientist for Bitcoin Unlimited, the second most popular software implementation of bitcoin cash, contends these threats are likely "a bluff" meant to scare Bitcoin ABC supporters.

Wright's Bitcoin SV wants to see an increase in the block size parameter from 32 MB to 128 MB. It's technical - and some would claim unnecessary at this point - but over the past several months, bitcoin cash supporters have begun choosing sides.

The largest bitcoin cash mining pool, CoinGeek publicly announced that they were in support of Bitcoin SV in August.

On the flip side, information site and mining pool Bitcoin.com recently announced support for Bitcoin ABC. As a result of the ongoing controversy, many bitcoin cash-supporting businesses and exchanges - including Binance, Coinbase and Polintriza, as well as, instant payments application Money Button - have largely frozen operations for the time being.

This controversy is affecting the businesses that moved over to bitcoin cash during its split from bitcoin in an effort to pioneer the cheaper, faster payment network they believed was the original intent of Satoshi Nakamoto.