OKX Blockchain 60 Lectures | Episode 50: Bitcoin's Second Fork, The Hashrate War
BCH-1. 67%
In the previous lesson, we discussed how in 2018, as new technology development hit a bottleneck, people began to realize that blockchain is not all-powerful. From that point, the industry embarked on a massive de-bubbling process, and the defining event of this crypto winter was the hashrate war triggered by the Bitcoin Cash fork.
This story begins after Bitcoin's first fork concluded, at which point Bitcoin had split into two versions: BTC and BCH. Although the BCH version became independent, it was jointly maintained by multiple development teams including Bitcoin ABC, Bitcoin Unlimited, Bitprim, Nchain, Bitcrust, Electrum X, Parity, and Bitcoin XT, which planted the seeds for a second fork.
So when 2018 arrived and it came time to plan the future of Bitcoin Cash, disagreements resurfaced, once again forming two major camps. One camp was the Bitcoin ABC faction, led by Jihan Wu, the driving force behind Bitcoin's first fork. They believed that a pure Payment-focused approach was not well-suited to the current environment, and that Bitcoin Cash should follow in Ethereum's footsteps by developing into a foundational public chain, expanding into more application scenarios, and strengthening Bitcoin Cash's competitiveness.
The other camp was the Bitcoin BSV faction, represented by Dr. Craig S. Wright, an early Bitcoin contributor. They wanted Bitcoin Cash to remain true to what Satoshi Nakamoto described in the original paper — focusing solely on the act of transferring value — and to expand the block size to 128MB.
The two sides couldn't persuade each other, resulting in the Bitcoin Cash consensus protocol no longer being compatible. So they set a date for a second fork, using hashrate to determine who would inherit the Bitcoin Cash legacy. The winner would become the main chain, and the loser would be phased out.
The two sides were already full of tension during the preparation phase. Just half an hour before the official BCH fork, the ABC camp leveraged Bitcoin's hashrate — their Bitcoin.com mining pool's BCH hashrate surged by 1,593.09%, equivalent to the combined power of multiple supercomputers, reaching 4,081.03 PH/S, surpassing BSV camp's Coingeek mining pool to take the top rank.
When the clock hit November 16, 2018 at 01:52, after the last public BCH block was mined, CSW took to Twitter and declared: "Game on." Jihan Wu retweeted a post by Jiang Zhuo in response: "Congratulations! After this new block, there will be no more troublemakers in the BCH community!"
The hashrate war had officially begun. The rule was simple: whichever side managed to mine six more blocks ahead of the other would win.
The ABC faction quickly gained the upper hand, mining two blocks in rapid succession within 14 minutes. The BSV faction responded by mining their first block. But the tide soon turned into a one-sided affair — the ABC camp led by six blocks within just two hours. Prior to this, analysts had suggested that whichever side achieved a six-block lead would essentially have secured victory in this hashrate war.
Facing this situation, CSW emphasized on social media: "The hashrate race is a marathon, not a sprint. Never assume you've seen victory too early." But in the end, the war concluded with the ABC faction, led by Jihan Wu, emerging victorious. The BSV faction then broke away and established its own separate chain.
Overall, there were no real winners in this battle. The total cryptocurrency market cap took another devastating hit following this conflict, accelerating the de-bubbling process in the blockchain industry and laying a solid foundation for the subsequent entry of international giants.
Thanks to Xiao Mage for his assistance and guidance on the content of this episode.
Sina Weibo: @布劳克臣小马叔
"OKX Blockchain 60 Lectures" is a blockchain educational animation video series jointly produced by OKX and Sina Technology. Targeted at users with zero background in blockchain, it uses articles and animated videos to vividly explain blockchain concepts through five major sections and 60 knowledge points, covering concepts, technology, and applications.
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This article may contain product-related content not applicable to your region. This article is dedicated to providing general information and does not accept responsibility for any factual errors or omissions herein. This article represents only the author's personal views and does not constitute the views of OKX. This article is not intended to provide any advice, including but not limited to: (i) investment advice or investment recommendations; (ii) offers or solicitations to purchase, sell, or hold digital assets; or (iii) financial, accounting, legal, or tax advice. Holdings in digital assets (including stablecoins) involve a high degree of risk and may be subject to significant price fluctuations, or may even become worthless. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is appropriate for you based on your financial situation. For questions specific to your circumstances, please consult your legal/tax/investment professional. Any information in this article (including market data and statistics, if applicable) is provided for general reference purposes only. While all reasonable precautions have been taken in the preparation of such data and charts, we assume no responsibility for any factual errors or omissions expressed herein. © 2025 OKX. This article may be reproduced or distributed in its entirety, or may use excerpts of 100 words or less, provided that such use is non-commercial in nature. Any reproduction or distribution of the full article must prominently state: "This article is copyrighted © 2025 OKX, used with permission." Permitted excerpts must cite the article title and include attribution, for example, "Article title, [author name (if applicable)], © 2025 OKX." Some content may have been generated or assisted by artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Derivative works or other uses of this article are not permitted.
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