The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) price increased by 26 percent within the past 24 hours, moving closer to the $700 mark. The price trend of BCH over the past two days has been similar to that of bitcoin.

Major Factors in the Rise of Bitcoin Cash

Earlier this week, Jihan Wu, the founder of Bitmain, the world’s largest multi-billion dollar bitcoin mining equipment manufacturer which also operates the global bitcoin market’s leading mining pool Antpool, released a statement clarifying the branding of Bitcoin Cash.

In a statement which seemed like a response to that of Roger Ver and Bitcoin.com’s “Bitcoin Cash is Bitcoin” statement and article, Wu said:

Bitcoin is Bitcoin. Bitcoin Cash is Bitcoin Cash. — Jihan Wu (@JihanWu) November 2, 2017

On October 19, CCN.com reported that Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin and former Coinbase executive, criticized Bitcoin.com and Roger Ver for attempting to brand Bitcoin Cash as Bitcoin.

Lee stated:

“A lot of newcomers are going to be misled by Bitcoin.com . This article is so full of lies and FUD. Not having replace-by-fee does not make unconfirmed transactions safe. Also confirmed transactions are irreversible even with SegWit. SegWit signatures are not removed from the transactions. It’s just the transaction data structure that’s different. It’s just as secure. More Pretty much every other line in that article is FUD and misleading. It’s very much a hit piece on Bitcoin Core and SegWit. Shame.”

Many supporters of Bitcoin Cash strongly believe that Bitcoin Cash has been following the roadmap established by bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. In an interview with prominent financial journalist Max Keiser, Roger Ver reaffirmed that he believes Bitcoin Cash is structured after the original bitcoin white paper of Satoshi Nakamoto and therefore, should be acknowledged as bitcoin.

Wu, who has been one of the major supporters of Bitcoin Cash, given the history of Bitcoin ABC, the protocol which Bitmain designed that was eventually taken over by ViaBTC to create Bitcoin Cash, emphasized that Bitcoin Cash should not be considered as bitcoin, as it is a currency that represents philosophies, values, and a structure that are entirely different to the bitcoin protocol.

It is likely that the transformation of Bitcoin Cash as an independent cryptocurrency outside of bitcoin is allowing it to grow at a rapid rate. In major markets such as South Korea, the demand for Bitcoin Cash has been rapidly rising. Particularly, Bithumb, the second largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world behind Bitfinex, has been processing nearly $1 billion in Bitcoin Cash trades on a daily basis over the past month.

Is Bitcoin Cash’s Success Linked to Bitcoin?

It can also be said that the recent success of bitcoin and the surge in its value have contributed to the rapid growth rate of bitcoin. At this phase of bitcoin development and market maturation, wherein large-scale institutional and retail investors are entering the bitcoin market, any cryptocurrency that is directly linked to bitcoin would benefit from the exposure of bitcoin in mainstream media and within the traditional financial industry.

Featured image from Shutterstock.