I sent BCH to a Bitcoin address (or BTC to a BCH address) — is it gone?

Sometimes recoverable, never automatically: if the receiving side controls the private key (self-custody), the funds can be swept on the other chain; if it's an exchange address, recovery depends on their support policy and often a fee. Prevention: only ever send BCH to q… CashAddr addresses.

Why are BCH fees so low?

Capacity headroom: 32MB blocks against modest demand means the fee auction never activates. A standard transfer pays the reference rate — fractions of a cent — in every market condition since 2018.

Are there stablecoins on Bitcoin Cash?

No mainstream ones as of 2026. CashTokens (2023) makes tokens technically possible, but dollar liquidity lives elsewhere. For stablecoin transfers, use TRON, Ethereum, or Solana; BCH's job is cheap settlement of BCH.

What is BCH used for?

On-chain payments: BCH is the transferred asset and pays the (sub-cent) miner fees. Its niche is merchant payments and remittances where base-layer settlement at negligible cost matters more than ecosystem breadth.

Capped at 21 million, exactly like Bitcoin, with the same four-year halving cadence (BCH's April 2024 halving cut rewards to 3.125 BCH). Over 19.8 million were mined by the mid-2020s.

Can I buy Bitcoin Cash with a debit card?

Yes — Anytime Capital sells BCH for debit cards from all major US banks, plus Apple Pay, Google Pay, credit cards, wires, and cash in person, delivered to your q… CashAddr in minutes on verified orders.

Is BCH 'the real Bitcoin'?

Both chains descend from the same genesis block; 'Bitcoin' as the market understands it is BTC, and BCH is its largest fork. What's factual: shared history to 2017, shared 21M cap, different scaling philosophies since. The rest is opinion.

Crypto network guide

The Bitcoin Cash Network, Explained

Q: How long does a Bitcoin Cash transfer take?

Blocks every ~10 minutes; exchanges credit after 1–6 confirmations (10–60 minutes). Because blocks aren't congested, first confirmations arrive predictably, and small merchant payments are often accepted at zero confirmations in seconds.

Quick answer

Bitcoin Cash is the 2017 fork of Bitcoin that raised block capacity to keep on-chain payments cheap — fees run under a cent while blocks arrive every 10 minutes. It caps supply at 21 million BCH, uses q… CashAddr addresses, and added the CashTokens standard in 2023.

Buy BCH now BCH calculator

Updated August 2026 · Reviewed by the Anytime Capital trading desk

Bitcoin Cash at a glance

Launched: 2017
Consensus: Proof of Work (SHA-256)
Block time: ~10 minutes
Typical transfer time: 10–60 minutes (usable in seconds for small payments)
Typical network fee: Under a cent – cents
Native asset: Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

Network fee: Typically well under $0.01 per transaction in 2025–2026. Third-party network figures, not Anytime Capital pricing — our pricing is on the fees & limits page.

How long does a Bitcoin Cash transfer take?

Bitcoin Cash mirrors Bitcoin's 10-minute blocks, but its blocks are rarely full — fees stay under a cent and zero-confirmation payments are commonly accepted for small amounts. Exchanges typically credit after 1–6 confirmations, so 10–60 minutes for deposits.

Compare every chain on one page: how long crypto transfers take on every major network.

The fork, stated neutrally

In August 2017, Bitcoin's scaling debate split the chain: one side kept small blocks and built payment layers above (Bitcoin + Lightning), the other raised the block size to keep everyday payments on the base layer (Bitcoin Cash, now with 32MB blocks). Both inherited the same history and 21-million cap. Nine years on, the market has priced the two paths very differently — but BCH's design goal holds up operationally: its blocks are rarely congested, so fees genuinely stay under a cent.

The address trap that CashAddr exists to prevent

BCH's legacy addresses are format-identical to Bitcoin's — the single most dangerous overlap in crypto, historically responsible for real losses in both directions. The CashAddr format (q…, often written bitcoincash:q…) was introduced in 2018 precisely to make BCH addresses visually unmistakable. The rule: send BCH only to q… addresses; if someone hands you a 1… address 'for BCH,' convert it to CashAddr in your wallet and re-verify which asset they actually mean before anything moves.

What runs on BCH today

Payments, mostly — point-of-sale processors, remittance corridors where sub-cent fees matter, and merchant tooling. The May 2023 CashTokens upgrade added native tokens and covenant capabilities to the chain, seeding a small DeFi scene, though no mainstream stablecoin runs on BCH in 2026. For dollar-pegged transfers, use a stablecoin network; for cheap final settlement of its own asset, BCH does exactly what it says.

Stablecoins on Bitcoin Cash

No mainstream stablecoins run on Bitcoin Cash. To move dollar-pegged value, use USDT or USDC on a supporting network — see stablecoins & their networks.

What does a Bitcoin Cash address look like?

Bitcoin Cash address formats
Format	Looks like	Notes
CashAddr	Starts with q (or bitcoincash:q…)	The standard BCH format — introduced specifically to stop BTC/BCH mix-ups
Legacy	Starts with 1 or 3	Identical to Bitcoin's format — the dangerous overlap; convert to CashAddr before sending

Buy BCH — the #1 place to buy crypto with a debit card, wire, Apple Pay & more

Anytime Capital is a US-based money services business with thousands of customers. Debit and credit cards from every major US bank work here, verification takes minutes, and delivery goes straight to the Bitcoin Cash address you choose.