Bitcoin’s Market Cap Swings Wildly as Bitcoin SV Surges 30% to Jump Into Top 5

It was a wild day on cryptocurrency markets today. While most major cryptocurrencies experienced double-digit losses across the board, Bitcoin SV surged nearly 30% to catapult into the top 5 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

As we go to press Bitcoin SV (BSV) has officially taken over Bitcoin Cash (BCH) to become the fifth ranked cryptocurrency by market cap. While Bitcoin SV has risen 26.45% over the last 24 hours, Bitcoin Cash has sunk 21.50%.

Most other cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, are down 9% or more over the last 24 hours. As we go to press, BTC is sitting at a price of $3,455.19. One year ago, BTC was tickling $20,000.

If you’re not familiar with Bitcoin SV, then don’t worry: you’re not alone. The cryptocurrency was born from the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) hashwar that occurred in November. When the two warring BCH sides were unable to compromise, the side with the most hash support claimed the BCH title while the other side, Bitcoin SV, forged its own path ahead.

Bitcoin SV has been quietly building steam over the past week. Today, however, was its crowning point. Bitcoin SV is now sitting at $112.12 USD per token compared to $103.04 for Bitcoin Cash.

Bitcoin SV, or “Satoshi Vision”, embraces the cash-like nature of bitcoin. Led by Calvin Ayre and Craig Wright, Bitcoin SV is designed to facilitate fast, cheap, peer-to-peer money transfers. Bitcoin SV supporters claim to be supporting the “true” version of bitcoin according to Satoshi Nakamoto’s original vision for a peer-to-peer electronic form of money.

Bitcoin Cash was built with similar goals.

Unfortunately for BCH supporters, Bitcoin SV has received positive press because of nChain’s Craig Wright and Calvin Ayre over the last 24 hours, while BCH supporters Roger Ver and Bitmain have received negative press.

A recent lawsuit accuses Bitmain and Roger Ver of hijacking Bitcoin Cash. That lawsuit was filed by UnitedCorp, which is short for United America Corporation. It’s a Florida-based blockchain company that is suing Bitmain and Roger Ver for their role in the bitcoin hard fork.

Craig Wright has taken to Twitter – which isn’t unusual – to hint about huge plans for 2019.

“In 2019 we will start to teach people how to build real SPV systems. No fraud proofs, secure, instant. It was hinted at in the whitepaper, but nobody has managed to get it. So, I will do it for you. I had hoped others would [have] understood and run with this but…”

Craig Wright has proclaimed himself as Satoshi Nakamoto and provided some proof to some people of his links to Satoshi. However, his status as the man behind the Satoshi Nakamoto identity remains unclear. To date, nobody has been able to provide a definite, undisputable connection to the Satoshi identity.

“There is no more time,” added Wright on Twitter. “Clearly, it seems that the simplest things are hardest. SPV is P2P and has no server.”

Ultimately, Wright insists that Bitcoin SV is the “true” version of bitcoin, built according to Satoshi’s original vision for the cryptocurrency. Wright and his team originally split from the BTC network when the BTC team refused to compromise with on-chain scaling. Then, Wright and his team split with the BCH network once again when they disagreed about scaling and other issues.

Of course, both Bitcoin SV and Bitcoin Cash are minor altcoins compared to BTC. Nevertheless, BTC has taken a beating today, down 8.54% over the last 24 hours, hitting a low of $3,455.19 – a mark that has not been seen since 2017. The second ranked cryptocurrency by market cap, XRP, took a similar hit, down 9.74%, with ETH dropping 12.69% and Stellar (XLM) dropping 14.42%.

Bitcoin SV was one of the few winners on the day, rising nearly 30% over the last 24 hours and propelling itself into the top 5 cryptocurrencies by market cap. It remains to be seen if Bitcoin SV can continue this momentum moving forward.

Could we one day be talking about a “flippening” between Bitcoin SV and BTC? It seemed crazy two weeks ago. But if current price trends continue – dare we say it’s possible?

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