Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which was pitted as a competitor to Bitcoin (BTC), has lost near 75% of its value from the peak price of about $4200 to trade at $1100 as of writing this article. There is no doubt that the overall cryptocurrency market is on a decline. However, Bitcoin has lost only about halve of its value from the peak level of about $20,000. Likewise, many of the major cryptocurrencies are trading at half or one-third of their peak value. So, what happened to Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is the question in cryptocurrency investor’s mind.
Firstly, the arrival of SegWit address facility for Bitcoin transactions has resulted in a steep fall in the transaction costs. In December, when Bitcoin was trading near its historic peak, the transaction cost hit a high of about 1,200 Satoshis per bytes. It has now fallen to about 110 Satoshis per bytes. That is one of the factors for investors and traders to stick to Bitcoin.
Secondly, there were reports of a heated debate among Bitcoin Cash developers over features like smart contracts. The lead developer of Bitcoin Cash, Amaury Séchet, was accused of showing a bossy attitude to other developers. Further, the upcoming Lightning transactions has raised the question for the need to use Bitcoin Cash, instead of Bitcoin, which is reasonably well-known to public, compared to other cryptocurrencies. All these factors are having a negative effect on Bitcoin Cash.