The controversial bitcoin cash has had a surprisingly strong rally in the past week, and prices have held up in the past 24 hours on an announcement out of Chinese miner Bitmain on Friday. The miner, which accounts for 7-10% bitcoin cash block mining, pledges to ‘burn’ 12% of fees to help support the economic health of the network. It asks other miners to do the same. Bitmain strongly feels that bitcoin cash fulfills Satoshi’s intended vision for Bitcoin to be a currency rather than a store of value.

I’ve always been somewhat confused by bitcoin cash and Litecoin, as both seem to have similar functions. For a while, Litecoin has been favored until plans to become a currency were stalled (eg litepay). Seems like someone is clearly stepping up to support bitcoin cash to support that mission. Still, it feels like there are too many currency contenders out there, and like Litecoin, the optimism and momentum could just be temporary.