Bitcoin SV (BSV) was created following a hard fork of the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) blockchain in 2018. The Bitcoin Cash itself had separated from the BTC blockchain a year prior as a result of the blocksize debates. BSV asserts that it embodies the original vision of the Bitcoin protocol and design as outlined in Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper, early Bitcoin client software, and Satoshi's documented writings. Bitcoin SV seeks to provide scalability and stability corresponding to the initial depiction of Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, along with delivering a distributed data network capable of supporting enterprise-level advanced blockchain applications. In pursuit of these goals, BSV has eliminated artificial block size constraints and re-enabled Script commands along with other technical features that were historically disabled or restricted by the protocol developers of the BTC blockchain. This allegedly allows the BSV network to handle tens of thousands of transactions per second while keeping transaction fees extremely low for micropayments, and offers advanced functionalities such as tokens, smart contracts, computation, and various other data use cases. The BSV network asserts its uniqueness in its ability to scale on-chain without limits while being more closely aligned with the original design of Bitcoin than any other blockchain.

nChain, a blockchain technology company, developed the BSV node software and has consistently provided protocol updates to restore the functionality of the original Bitcoin protocol. nChain now supports the BSV Infrastructure Team, which continues to improve the node software and other infrastructure tools for the BSV network. Craig Wright, former Chief Scientist of nChain, who claims to be the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, has been an advocate of BSV since the 2018 split between BCH and BSV. This split was prompted by controversial protocol changes proposed by several BCH developers. Entrepreneur Calvin Ayre is another prominent supporter of BSV and frequently seeks investment opportunities in companies and projects operating on the blockchain. Following BSV's separation from BCH, the Switzerland-based non-profit industry association known as BSV Association was established, which now promotes the global growth and adoption of the BSV blockchain and digital cash.

Bitcoin SV (BSV) distinguishes itself from other Bitcoin variants by purportedly adhering to the original Bitcoin protocol and striving to fulfill the vision for the Bitcoin network as outlined in the Bitcoin white paper and other writings attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto. BSV aims to provide a scalable and practical blockchain platform for efficient electronic cash payments and distributed data applications, serving consumer, enterprise, and government users. Due to its unbounded block size, BSV can scale according to market requirements and accommodate the needs of any application and payment network without relying on second-layer solutions. In 2021, the BSV network achieved a milestone by mining the first gigabyte (1000+ megabytes) level blocks globally, reaching up to 2 GB in August 2021; for perspective, 2 GB is 2000 times larger than the 1 MB block cap of the BTC network. The block capacity of the BSV network is anticipated to expand further to support increased transaction volume and data use cases. With the testing of new node software, the BSV Infrastructure Team has reportedly shown the BSV network’s capability to handle up to 1,000,000 transactions per second, with expectations for this capacity to be demonstrated on the BSV mainnet and to increase further in the future. This capability positions BSV to compete with and potentially surpass the payment processing capabilities of platforms like VISA, offering significantly lower costs to users. Furthermore, BSV provides a scalable and product-ready platform for blockchain application developers. It claims the capacity to scale alongside user adoption, ensuring developers that transaction fees will remain low and interactions will be processed swiftly.

According to the original Bitcoin protocol, the circulation of Bitcoin SV (BSV) is capped at a maximum of 21 million coins. These new coins are allocated to BSV miners through block rewards, which are earned alongside transaction fees for block validation. Block rewards for miners are halved at predetermined intervals to gradually transition miners' dependence from these subsidies to transaction fees and to decelerate the creation of new tokens as the total supply nears its limit.

Bitcoin SV (BSV) is safeguarded by the proof-of-work consensus mechanism outlined in the Bitcoin white paper. This process requires miners to solve intricate mathematical problems using their computer's processing power to add a block containing new transactions to the blockchain. The first miner to resolve this problem receives the block reward and transaction fees, and their block is appended to the chain. As additional blocks are constructed on top of the original block, the validity of the transactions stored on the blockchain is confirmed by other nodes, making any alterations extremely difficult, if not virtually impossible.

Bitcoin SV (BSV) is available on prominent exchanges such as OKX, KuCoin, and HTX, among various other cryptocurrency platforms.