Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Network Speed Tanks, Cost of 51% Attack Drops to Dangerous Level

Shortly after the first Bitcoin Cash (BCH) halving occurred, the worst predictions of its influence on network security and speed came true. Will this result in a price dump?

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) now works more slowly than Bitcoin (BTC)

As a result of the halving, miners now receive 6.25 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) per one confirmed block instead of 12.5 Bitcoin Cash (BCH). This made mining unprofitable for many miners, so, the network hashrate tanked. This, in turn, led to a collapse of transactions.

Bcash block speed has dropped 83%
Just four blocks in three hours

Remember when @rogerkver said it was faster than #Bitcoin? It isn't even the same speed at the moment pic.twitter.com/X8M7BWb6pB

— Alistair Milne (@alistairmilne) April 9, 2020

As reported by Alistair Milne, investor and Altana Digital Currency Fund CIO, the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network is adding new blocks 83% more slowly than it did yesterday. Approximately, one block is mined every 45 minutes which is enormously slow for the network designed for instant payments.  

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Such congestions usually challenge the idea of 'coffee transactions', which is one of the slogans for Bitcoin Cash (BCH) mass adoption.

One Bitcoin (BTC) for 51% attack

Moreover, today's problems with Bitcoin Cash (BCH) are not only connected to cold coffee. With this dramatic exodus of miners, the most important fork of Bitcoin (BTC) has become extremely vulnerable to a 51% attack, i.e. for an unintended network split. As highlighted by Lina Seiche, Marketing Director of the BTSE trading platform, malefactors could attack Bitcoin Cash (BCH) for one hour without significant expenses.

The cost to attack Bcash for 1 hour is now $7,517, down from $22,000 yesterday. pic.twitter.com/q8tmdkRSaq

— Lina Seiche (@LinaSeiche) April 9, 2020

Mrs. Seiche noted that yesterday the cost was three times higher. At printing time, some analyst sources that monitor 51% attacks stopped showing information for Bitcoin Cash (BCH). 

Typically, such declines are mitigated by periodic difficulty adjustments. Although, commenters onTwitter insist that this will not be a matter of days: 

At this rate, their diff adjustment is going to take months.

At printing time, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is trading at $260 on major spot exchanges, 5.1% down from its intraday high.