Bitcoin Cash surges ahead of Halving, BCH futures market heats up
After a turbulent week, Bitcoin (BTC) prices showed minimal movement over the past 24 hours. After briefly breaking $71,000 on Tuesday, prices have fallen to approximately $70,000 ahead of a key options expiration on Friday.
The 2017 Bitcoin “hard fork” resulted in a significant and enduring split in the blockchain protocol, giving rise to Bitcoin Cash, which aims to restore decentralization. This shift, resulting in a split or separation into two distinct paths, allows for handling a higher volume of transactions within a single block. This could reduce costs and processing times, ultimately leading to more savings for traders in comparison to using BTC.
In spite of their philosophical disparities, Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin have many technical similarities: They both employ a similar consensus mechanism and have limited their coin supply to 21 million. In November 2018, a split occurred in Bitcoin Cash, resulting in the emergence of two separate factions: Bitcoin Cash ABC and Bitcoin Cash SV (Satoshi Vision). In the year 2021, Bitcoin Cash ABC underwent a rebranding and is now known as eCash.
Some traders predict that there may be an all-around market selloff in the coming days if Bitcoin’s value manages to drop below the $69,000 mark. Dogecoin witnessed a 6% surge, whereas Bitcoin Cash saw a 13% rise, leading up to the upcoming halving event on April 4.
In the past, the token typically went to a bull market. According to FxPro senior market analyst Alex Kuptsikevich, Bitcoin has fallen below $70K due to the bulls needing to express their frustrations and the general decrease in risk appetite in global markets.
Dogecoin (DOGE) has shown the most increase in value out of all the major cryptocurrencies, pushing the token past 21 cents for the first time since December 2021. An extensive liquid index including the leading tokens but excluding stablecoins, CoinDesk 20, experienced a 1.4% decrease. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) jumped 13% ahead of the next halving event, which has usually preceded a bullish period for the cryptocurrency.
The open interest volume in BCH-tracked futures increased to $500 million on Thursday from $213 million the previous week. This indicates a rise in risky betting on price swings that are larger than predicted. During halving, the mining transaction reward is lowered by half, resulting in a slower rate of coin production and a lesser supply of new coins. Trackers show that the Bitcoin halving is scheduled for April 20 and has historically preceded a bull market in the cryptocurrency.
