The Bitcoin Cash blockchain will split between two protocols:
- Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN)
- Bitcoin Cash ABC (BCHA or ABC)
Exchanges have said they plan to support the network upgrade but, in case the blockchain splits, they will stick to the chain with the majority hash power (the chain with more Bitcoin Cash miners).
Bitcoin Cash appeared in 2017 as a fork of Bitcoin and split itself, in 2018, in Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV.
What is a hard fork?
"A hard fork, as it relates to blockchain technology, is a significant change to the rules of the digital asset’s underlying a blockchain. At the precise time of the hard fork, the blockchain splits into two separate blockchains - one following the old rules and one following the new rules. Depending on the support of the miners and the wider community, either one of the two new (forked) blockchains may die out (if no miner supports it) or both forked blockchains may continue to grow with different miners and supporting communities. A prime example for this would be the creation of Bitcoin Cash initially which was itself a hard fork from Bitcoin." - Globe News Wire