Since the Bitcoin Cash fork one year ago, BitMEX Research has been keeping a close eye on the growth of both SegWit and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Both implementations promise lower transaction fees, so it’s good for investors to compare the two’s actual usage to determine which is a better long-term investment medium of exchange.

BitMEX recently released an update to their SegWit vs. BCH research. To summarize their findings: SegWit usage is consistently growing, and Bitcoin Cash is increasing as well. Below you can find the relevant data.

The first chart shows SegWit usage percent, which identifies the percent of transactions using SegWit addresses. Considering that SegWit is a soft fork, that requires user activation, it makes sense that use is climbing over time. Not all exchanges or wallets support SegWit yet, so use is nowhere near 100%. Despite that, the usage has been increasing. As previously reported by CryptoGlobe, the usage percent even cracked 50% for a day.

segwit use(Source: BitMEX Research, Bitcoin blockchain)

The next chart represents number of transactions per day. Bitcoin transactions without SegWit are separated from SegWit transactions to differentiate between the two. Over the past few months, BTC non-SegWit has been stagnant, while both SegWit and Bitcoin Cash have been increasing.

transaction volume(Source: BitMEX Research, Bitcoin blockchain, Bitcoin Cash blockchain)

Bitcoin Cash transaction volume declined through most of the year, until late summer when values picked up. The large spikes in August and September were stress tests performed on the network, to prove how many transactions BCH could handle. Even after these stress tests, transaction volume never approached Bitcoin’s volume. Over the last six months the median daily transaction volume on BCH is 9% of Bitcoin’s. Some analysts say that network usage is related to a cryptocurrency’s price, so it makes sense why 1 BCH is currently trading for 0.069 BTC.

Next is total transactions over time. This chart is to show the big picture, and see not who has the most daily usage, but who has the most total usage. SegWit is leading the way, and since February has been well ahead of Bitcoin Cash. Even after Bitcoin Cash’s million transaction stress tests, Bitcoin Cash total transaction count is failing to keep up with SegWit.

total transactions(Source: BitMEX Research, Bitcoin blockchain, Bitcoin Cash blockchain)

Lastly, here’s a chart of coins moved for the first time since the fork. This could show a few things. Investors could’ve been moving coins in Q4 2017 in order to switch from BCH to BTC. Or, they could’ve been moving coins in order to take advantage of the bull market. Either way, the trendlines are flattening.

coins moved since fork(Source: Forks.network, Original chart idea from BitMEX Research)