Even though the Bitcoin price is struggling to find stable ground right now, most altcoins are doing just fine. In an ideal world, no alternative currency would be linked to Bitcoin, but that won’t be the case anytime soon. Bitcoin Cash has gained quite a lot of momentum in the past week. With its value peaking above US$2,300 once again, the road to a new all-time high is still wide open.
Solid Week-Long Gains for Bitcoin Cash
The difference between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash has become a lot more apparent this past week. While Bitcoin is annoyingly slow and frustratingly expensive, Bitcoin Cash still provides decent transaction times and low fees. Whether or not this network can continue doing so once more people use it on a daily basis remains to be seen. For now, this clear utilitarian advantage over Bitcoin has allowed the Bitcoin Cash price to appreciate over the past seven days.
More specifically, we saw the Bitcoin Cash price move from US$1,500 all the way up to US$2,000 late last week. Despite this momentum, it took a little while for the next leg up to begin. It was inevitable the Bitcoin Cash price would eventually surpass US$2,250, and that is exactly what has happened overnight. It’s a very positive development for this particular altcoin, and it now seems well positioned to break its previous all-time high of US$2,800.
With the Bitcoin Cash price peaking around US$2,500 and then retracing slightly, it will be interesting to see what the future holds. The current Bitcoin Cash price of US$2,365 is more than respectable, as it goes to show people are taking a liking to the idea of an alternate Bitcoin blockchain. As long as Bitcoin remains clunky and expensive, we may continue to see people switch over to BCH. For now, all bets are off in the cryptocurrency world, which will undoubtedly see some big changes over time.
Thanks to over US$3.52 billion in 24-hour trading volume, it is safe to say the demand for Bitcoin Cash will not dry up anytime soon. It has been an interesting year for this particular altcoin in every regard, and it seems to have performed a lot better than most people had originally anticipated. Ever since it moved away from the EDA, people have shown nothing but respect for BCH (other than the predictable name-calling and mudslinging).
No one will be shocked to learn that Bithumb is the main driving force behind this surge in the Bitcoin Cash price. With over US$672.7 million in 24-hour trading volume, the South Korean platform is well ahead of Bitfinex in this regard. It is uncanny how HitBTC is in third place, even though its prices are excluded from CoinMarketCap as of a few hours ago. It will be interesting to see if that has any impact on altcoin markets moving forward, but for now, it seems it won’t matter all that much. Korbit and Coinone are still among the top 10 exchanges, but they’re struggling to come anywhere close to Bithumb in terms of volume right now.
For the time being, things look rather promising in the world of cryptocurrency. A lot of things are changing, and the major Bitcoin rush seems to be over for 2017. The final two weeks of the year could be a good time for altcoins to shine and reclaim their thunder. Whether or not any of them will actually do so remains to be seen, as every altcoin is reliant on the Bitcoin momentum first and foremost.
