Fork in the node: Bitcoin Cash Node on track to oust Bitcoin ABC

Bitcoin ABC, the historically dominant implementation of Bitcoin Cash (BCH), appears on the brink of giving way to a community-driven mutiny in the form of Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN).

According to Coin Dance more than 75% of nodes have signaled in favor of BCHN over the past week, while a meager 1% have shown support for ABC. There’s just over ten days left in the race.

BCHN nodes mined 84.7% of Bitcoin Cash blocks produced in the last 24 hours, compared to just 1.4% for ABC.

BCHN emerged in response to ABC’s announcement it would introduce a new “coinbase rule” diverting 8% of block rewards to a development fund controlled by ABC lead developer Amaury Sechet, alongside changes to BCH’s difficulty algorithm come Bitcoin Cash’s scheduled upgrade on Nov. 15.

BCHN’s proponents insist the coinbase rule is not needed, claiming they can fund development through voluntary community support.

While Sechet has threatened that “the BCHN chain will be wiped out” should the ABC chain become longer than the BCHN chain after the chain split, BCHN’s current dominance suggests the rival implementation will emerge dominant on Nov. 15 — posing an uncertain future for ABC.

In a Nov. 3 announcement addressing the fork, leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced that if current signaling trends continue, “Binance will treat the BCHN chain as the future BCH chain.”

The exchange noted it will distribute coins on a 1:1 basis should a rival chain be created.

Amaury Sechet has been Bitcoin ABC’s sole lead developer since Bitcoin Cash forked away from Bitcoin on Aug. 1, 2017.

While Sechet was initially supported by major BCH proponents including Roger Ver, growing tensions between the developer and his backers resulted in them withdrawing support — prompting Sechet’s move to introduce the coinbase rule.