The community supporting bitcoin has long tried to avoid a so-called “hard fork” splitting the currency in two. It happened anyhow. The idea behind the ‘hard fork’ to form bitcoin and bitcoin cash is to increase transaction speed and mainstream acceptance of the cryptocurrency. People who kept their cryptocurrency on their hard drives got a choice between bitcoin and the new version, bitcoin cash. Some hastened to sell bitcoin and buy bitcoin cash, driving up the new currency to $563 per unit at the time of this writing, while bitcoin dipped a little but remained worth more than $2,700. But many investors, who held bitcoin through exchanges that didn’t support the “hard fork”, were deprived of the choice. Many exchanges are still hesitating whether to trade bitcoin cash. Bitcoin cash isn’t being mined as actively yet. It’s still untried, and experts aren’t sure how safe it is. There are some strong technical arguments against bitcoin cash, too. But whether or not bitcoin cash is ultimately successful, cryptocurrencies need to make technological progress if they are ever to outgrow their current status as glorified poker chips. To become actual money—accepted everywhere, for any kind of purchase—cryptocurrencies must become convenient to a layman. That means instant processing. Holding back developments that lead to it makes little sense.

(Live Mint)