Bitcoin value falls after alternative currency goes live

A new kind of bitcoin went live Tuesday after a group of developers split the cryptocurrency into two: bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.

The split officially occurred at 8:20 a.m. ET.

Bitcoin futures briefly fell in response, dipping about 5%. But by Tuesday afternoon, they appear to be slightly recovering. As of 1:21 p.m. ET, the cryptocurrency is worth $2,855 or about 2% lower, according to CoinMarketCap.

Meanwhile, the newly introduced Bitcoin Cash is trading at $319.

Bitcoin Cash is the result of a dispute within the bitcoin community over how it should handle scale as the cryptocurrency gains popularity.

The software that currently powers bitcoin transactions, blockchain, has limited capacity, which sometimes causes delays. To address this, developers created a completely new blockchain that can process more transactions.

Every bitcoin owner will be able to use Bitcoin Cash. However, some bitcoin exchanges said they will not support the new currency. This includes Coinbase, the world's largest bitcoin exchange, according to its website.

“We have no plans to support the Bitcoin Cash fork. We have made this decision because it is hard to predict how long the alternative version of bitcoin will survive and if Bitcoin Cash will have future market value,” David Farmer, director of Business Operations for Coinbase, wrote in a blog post.

Bitcoin is a popular digital currency that allows users to directly exchange money without an intermediary such as a bank.