What is scalability problem?

Bitcoin Cash was created due to scalability problem of the Bitcoin network. Scalability refers to the maximum number of transactions the Bitcoin network can process and the capability of a cryptocurrency network to handle a growing amount of transactions. 

Bitcoin can process 1MB size of transactions every 10 minutes with an average transaction size of 250 Bytes. This means the network can process 4000 transactions (100000Bytes/250Bytes=4000) every 10 minute. On average it takes 10 minutes (600 seconds) to confirm a new block. After some math 4000 transactions/600second=6,7 transaction/second, this gives that Bitcoin network can process 3-7 transactions per second.

The popularity of Bitcoin has been growing ever since it has been created in 2009. As more and more people got into Bitcoin, the number of transactions increased. Over time Bitcoin network became congested due to constantly increasing the number of transactions. Transactions took longer and wouldn’t get confirmed unless high fees were paid. This limit on the transaction amount causes a bottleneck in the network as more and more people use Bitcoin. Currently the issue is being solved by the Bitcoin community through innovations like Lightning Network and Schnorr signatures.