Coin columns · Payments Harbor
Bitcoin SV (BSV): The Big-Block Chain That Split From Bitcoin Cash
A proof-of-work chain for payments and data, forked in 2018
Bitcoin SV (BSV) is a proof-of-work blockchain that split from Bitcoin Cash in November 2018 and promises large-scale payments and data recording by lifting block-size limits. ‘SV’ stands for ‘Satoshi Vision’.
1. What it is and where it split
Bitcoin SV arose on 15 November 2018, when Bitcoin Cash went through a hard fork (a rule change that splits a chain in two). The camp wanting bigger blocks and a return to Bitcoin’s original design was led by the research firm nChain, its chief scientist Craig Wright, backer Calvin Ayre and the mining firm CoinGeek. The miners’ clash is often called the ‘hash war’.
BSV’s supply is described as capped at 21 million, as with Bitcoin. On the Crypto Nation map, BSV stands in Payments Harbor, because it is classed as a payments coin. The BSV Association, based in Switzerland, handles development and promotion.
2. Big blocks and ‘original rules’
BSV’s central claim is that returning to Bitcoin’s original design and lifting block-size limits allows many transactions at low fees. Its February 2020 ‘Genesis’ upgrade is described as removing the consensus limit on block size and restoring some early script functions. It uses Bitcoin’s UTXO model (a ledger of unspent outputs) and proof-of-work, the miners’ computing race.
The association’s node software is SV Node, and it has developed Teranode, a design that spreads work across many servers. It says Teranode handled over a million transactions per second in tests, but sources differ on how far it has reached mainnet. Bigger blocks hold more transactions, but running a node then needs more storage and bandwidth.
3. Uses and milestones
BSV is said to have been used for micropayments, supply-chain records and on-chain social services. The association calls it a scalable, energy-efficient public blockchain for data integrity and for enterprise and government solutions. Enterprise micropayment infrastructure and AI-agent tools are reportedly in development.
Milestones include the November 2018 fork and the February 2020 Genesis upgrade. A testnet for the ‘Chronicle’ upgrade opened on 14 January 2026, and on 2 April the association said this mandatory upgrade was expected to activate around 7 April at block height 943,816. It calls Chronicle the final step in restoring Bitcoin’s original design; operators and exchanges must move to SV Node 1.2, while wallets and existing apps are unaffected.
4. Things to know
BSV’s history is entangled with Craig Wright’s claims and lawsuits. Wright has said he is Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto, but in 2024 the UK High Court found he is not. Binance stopped trading BSV in April 2019 and other exchanges are said to have followed, so trading venues vary by country and time.
BSV has far less mining power than Bitcoin, which critics say leaves it more exposed to attacks by whoever holds a majority of that power. Mandatory hard forks can disrupt deposits and withdrawals if nodes or exchanges lag, and larger blocks raise node costs. Much of the writing about it is promotional, so check usage and performance figures against independent sources.
Written from information public up to October 2026. It does not recommend or rate any coin and is not investment advice. If something is wrong, please tell us through the contact page.