August 1 marks the eighth anniversary of Bitcoin’s initial activation of Segregated Witness (SegWit) in 2017. This significant software upgrade reduced miner influence over Bitcoin’s protocol and led to the creation of Bitcoin Cash (BCH), illustrating divisions within the community regarding Bitcoin's scalability. The controversy, referred to as the Block Size Wars, was marked by a divide between ‘small blockers’ and ‘big blockers’ who advocated for larger block sizes to accommodate more transactions. Proponents of bigger blocks argued that Bitcoin was not meeting Satoshi Nakamoto’s original vision due to limited block space. In resistance, node operators and developers highlighted the potential drawbacks of increasing block size, including higher storage costs for node operators. Following the split on August 1, 2017, BCH was established while Bitcoin continued to grow. Over the past eight years, BTC’s price has surged by about 4,200%, while BCH has remained relatively stable. Today, Bitcoin boasts a market cap of over $2.2 trillion, whereas BCH stands around $10.9 billion, emphasizing the differing trajectories of the two cryptocurrencies and ongoing debates over their intended use.

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