Bitcoin Cash has experienced a notable increase of over 13% in the past 24 hours, making it the top gainer among the leading 100 cryptocurrencies on July 29. This surge highlights growing investor interest, particularly among retail traders seeking more affordable alternatives to Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Cash’s market cap is now $8.75 billion, securing its position as the 16th largest cryptocurrency, according to CoinGecko. Despite this rise, BCH remains 88.3% below its all-time high of $3,785.8 set on Dec. 20, 2017.
Originating from a contentious 2017 Bitcoin fork, Bitcoin Cash was created due to ideological disagreements within the Bitcoin community about upgrades. It uses a Proof of Work mechanism, has a maximum supply of 21 million coins, and halving events every four years. The current mining reward is 6.25 BCH.
A key difference is the block size; Bitcoin Cash supports 32 MB blocks, much larger than Bitcoin’s 1 MB limit. This allows Bitcoin Cash to process more transactions simultaneously.
Retail traders increasingly turn to Bitcoin Cash and similar lower-priced assets, whereas Bitcoin trades around $70,000 per unit, making full ownership challenging for many.
The recent BCH rally is partly due to Kraken’s successful distribution of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash on July 27, 2024, to customers affected by the 2014 Mt. Gox hack.
Significant whale activity has also been observed, with large BCH purchases reported by whale tracker "FishTheWhales" on July 29.
Trading analyst Dz_4L noted on X that Bitcoin Cash has emerged from an inverse head-and-shoulders pattern, which suggests a bullish trend. He predicts BCH could see an additional 15-20% price increase.
Interest in Bitcoin has surged after former President Donald Trump announced initiatives involving digital assets, including a proposal for a national Bitcoin reserve.
Currently, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $69,716, a 3.23% increase over 24 hours, with a low of $67,314 and a high of $69,804.
Leading altcoins such as Ethereum (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE), Ripple (XRP), Solana (SOL), and Litecoin (LTC) have also posted modest gains. The general market sentiment is positive, with the Market Fear & Greed Index at 63 (Greed).
The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stands at $2.48 trillion, reflecting a 3.34% growth in the past 24 hours.
