Bitcoin Cash Advances 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 through larger block sizes, allowing the network to process more transactions directly on-chain. This design keeps fees 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 the network remains open and affordable for everyone, even as global adoption increases.
As a company that builds 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 preserving the network’s simplicity and efficiency.
The May 2026 Bitcoin Cash network upgrade introduces four key proposals that expand the scripting and programmability capabilities of BCH 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 demands.
- CHIP-2024-12: Pay to Script (P2S) makes Pay to Script outputs standard on the network. It also increases the allowable length of token commitments and standard unlocking bytecode.
- CHIP-2025-05: Functions (Function Definition and Invocation 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 to the Bitcoin Cash script system, allowing for more efficient implementation of financial and cryptographic applications on-chain.
Together, these upgrades represent another step in the steady technical growth of Bitcoin Cash. They give developers greater flexibility and power to build meaningful, user-focused innovations that move peer-to-peer money forward.
The May 2026 upgrade reflects the ongoing technical evolution of Bitcoin Cash. It continues to refine the scripting environment, improve on-chain efficiency, and expand the possibilities for decentralized applications and services. Bitcoin.com remains committed to supporting the development and maintenance of technologies that advance open, scalable, and accessible financial infrastructure.
By Andreas Larsson, Director of Engineering at Bitcoin.com
