<p>tldr - BTC = <strong>3.33-6.66tx/second</strong>, BCH = <strong>27 tx/second</strong></p>

<p>For non-segwit-enabled Bitcoin nodes, transaction capacity is determined by Bitcoin's 1MB block size limit. A 1MB block will contain about 2000 transactions on average (see <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/10457/what-is-the-number-of-transactions-in-a-block">here</a>). Because 1 block is mined every 10 minutes, this works out to roughly <strong>3.33 tx/second</strong>.</p>

<p>BCH transaction capacity is determined by its 8MB block size limit. Because a given non-segwit BTC transaction should be roughly equal in size to its equivalent BCH transaction, this puts the transaction capacity of BCH at 8x that of BTC without segwit, or roughly <strong>27 tx/second</strong>.</p>

<p>For segwit-enabled BTC nodes, transaction capacity is limited by the 4MB block weight limit (Note that block weight ≠ block size, see <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/67113/how-does-segwit-reduce-transaction-size-when-the-signature-is-simply-moved-to-a/67115#67115">here</a> for more info). It is estimated that roughly 2x the amount segwit transactions can be fit into a BTC block as can their non-segwit equivalents (see <a href="https://blog.bitmex.com/the-segwit-transaction-capacity-increase-part-1/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> and <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/58404/how-much-will-segwit-actually-increase-bitcoin-capacity-for-realistic-transact">here</a>). This would make the transaction capacity of a fully segwit-enabled BTC network roughly <strong>6.66 transactions/second</strong>.</p>

<p>A few things worth noting:</p>

<p>1) Visa typically processes ~2,000 transactions/second and can process up to 24,000 transactions/second (see <a href="https://usa.visa.com/run-your-business/small-business-tools/retail.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>).</p>

<p>2) As of Feb 2018, roughly 14% of BTC transactions are segwit transactions (see <a href="http://segwit.party/charts" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>)</p>

<p>3) On average, a serialized BTC block full of segwit transactions should take up ~2MB on disk. </p>

<p>4) Increasing the block size limit increases the amount of disk space and RAM required by miners to operate full nodes.</p>

<p>5) Generally speaking, the BTC community plans to increase transaction capacity via an overlay network (e.g. the <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=lightning+network&amp;oq=lightning+networ&amp;aqs=chrome.0.0j69i60l2j69i57j69i60j69i59.3926j1j7&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8" rel="nofollow noreferrer">lightning network</a>) whereas the BCH community plans to increase transaction capacity by continuing to increase the block size.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-26T20:04:28.027Z
2018-02-27T13:10:14.873Z
2018-02-27T13:10:14.873Z
Peter Berg
<p>If Bitcoin can process x transactions per second, how many transactions per second can Bitcoin Cash process?</p>

<transactions><bitcoin-cash><transaction-capacity>
What's the difference between BTC and BCH transaction capacity?
Peter Berg
# What's the difference between BTC and BCH transaction capacity?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-02-23)

If Bitcoin can process x transactions per second, how many transactions per second can Bitcoin Cash process?

**Tags:** transactions, bitcoin-cash, transaction-capacity


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2018-02-26. Score: 2

tldr - BTC = **3.33-6.66tx/second**, BCH = **27 tx/second**

For non-segwit-enabled Bitcoin nodes, transaction capacity is determined by Bitcoin's 1MB block size limit. A 1MB block will contain about 2000 transactions on average (see [here](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/10457/what-is-the-number-of-transactions-in-a-block)). Because 1 block is mined every 10 minutes, this works out to roughly **3.33 tx/second**.

BCH transaction capacity is determined by its 8MB block size limit. Because a given non-segwit BTC transaction should be roughly equal in size to its equivalent BCH transaction, this puts the transaction capacity of BCH at 8x that of BTC without segwit, or roughly **27 tx/second**.

For segwit-enabled BTC nodes, transaction capacity is limited by the 4MB block weight limit (Note that block weight ≠ block size, see [here](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/67113/how-does-segwit-reduce-transaction-size-when-the-signature-is-simply-moved-to-a/67115#67115) for more info). It is estimated that roughly 2x the amount segwit transactions can be fit into a BTC block as can their non-segwit equivalents (see [here](https://blog.bitmex.com/the-segwit-transaction-capacity-increase-part-1/) and [here](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/58404/how-much-will-segwit-actually-increase-bitcoin-capacity-for-realistic-transact)). This would make the transaction capacity of a fully segwit-enabled BTC network roughly **6.66 transactions/second**.

A few things worth noting:

1) Visa typically processes ~2,000 transactions/second and can process up to 24,000 transactions/second (see [here](https://usa.visa.com/run-your-business/small-business-tools/retail.html)).

2) As of Feb 2018, roughly 14% of BTC transactions are segwit transactions (see [here](http://segwit.party/charts))

3) On average, a serialized BTC block full of segwit transactions should take up ~2MB on disk.

4) Increasing the block size limit increases the amount of disk space and RAM required by miners to operate full nodes.

5) Generally speaking, the BTC community plans to increase transaction capacity via an overlay network (e.g. the [lightning network](https://www.google.com/search?q=lightning+network&oq=lightning+networ&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i60l2j69i57j69i60j69i59.3926j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)) whereas the BCH community plans to increase transaction capacity by continuing to increase the block size.


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