Bitcoin Cash continues its mission to deliver fast, affordable, and scalable peer-to-peer payments. With the upcoming network upgrade from May 2026, the usability of the blockchain will double.
Bitcoin Cash promotes on-chain innovation with four new CHIPs in 2026 network upgrade
At Bitcoin.com, our mission is to make economic freedom accessible to everyone. Bitcoin Cash focuses on scaling larger block sizes, allowing the network to process more transactions directly on-chain. This design keeps costs low, making it practical for everyday payments.
By prioritizing efficient on-chain scaling, Bitcoin Cash demonstrates an alternative approach to blockchain growth that emphasizes usability, accessibility, and predictable costs. This model ensures that the network remains open and affordable to everyone, even as global adoption increases.
As a company building wallets on top of Bitcoin Cash, we welcome the proposed CHIPs for the upcoming May 2026 network upgrade. This milestone strengthens the foundation for developers to create new on-chain products, expanding what can be built while maintaining the simplicity and efficiency of the network.
The May 2026 Bitcoin Cash network upgrade introduces four key proposals that expand BCH’s scripting and programming capabilities while maintaining its efficiency and reliability.
- CHIP-2021-05: Loops (Bounded Looping Operations) adds two new virtual machine operations, OP_BEGIN and OP_UNTIL, allowing developers to construct loops within BCH contracts without increasing processing or memory requirements.
- CHIP-2024-12: Pay to script (P2S) makes Pay to Script output default on the network. It also increases the allowable length of token commitments and standard unlock bytecode.
- CHIP-2025-05: Functions (function definition and calling operations) introduces the OP_DEFINE and OP_INVOKE opcodes, which allow Bitcoin Cash bytecode to be organized into reusable functions
- CHIP-2025-05: Bitwise (Re-enable Bitwise operations) restores essential bitwise operations in the Bitcoin Cash scripting system, enabling more efficient implementation of on-chain financial and cryptographic applications.
Together, these upgrades represent another step in Bitcoin Cash’s steady technical growth. They give developers more flexibility and power to build meaningful, user-centric innovations that advance peer-to-peer money.
The May 2026 upgrade reflects Bitcoin Cash’s continued technical evolution. It continues to refine the scripting environment, improve chain efficiencies, and expand capabilities for decentralized applications and services. Bitcoin.com remains committed to supporting the development and maintenance of technologies that promote an open, scalable and accessible financial infrastructure.
By Andreas Larsson, Technical Director at Bitcoin.com