Today we are talking about Bitcoin Gold, this fork of Bitcoin that decided to fork in order to facilitate voting by the community by using a new algorithm. However, marked by a bitter path, of attacks, hacks and initial lack of recognition. Not for this reason, a bad cryptocurrency, which was born with the intention of maintaining a real and tangible balance between miners and holders without the intention of marking competition or profit.
If you are interested in knowing what Bitcoin Gold is, how it was born, the claims it pursues, the different setbacks it has had and the trading trend from its inception to the present, read on.
What is Bitcoin Gold?
Bitcoin Gold (BTG) is a fork of Bitcoin, that is, a fork. It was launched on November 12, 2017 after parting ways with the Bitcoin chain the previous month. It was first announced in July 2017 when Jack Liao, CEO of BitExchange and LightingAsic, said he was looking for a new proof-of-work algorithm to switch from SHA256 to Equihash. An algorithm where miners, who must decipher difficult cryptography, have more equal opportunities.
It was the second fork of Bitcoin, if we remember the first, Bitcoin Cash (BTH), arising from the scalability disagreements that Bitcoin presents. 1MB blocks and continued network congestion.
The goal of Bitcoin Gold is really to make Bitcoin mining accessible to miners who do not have the capital to buy expensive equipment. Usually, those who have paid the most, have more advantage to extract each block. However, with the Equihash protocol of Bitcoin Gold this problem is solved. Mining is powered by casual graphics processing units (GPUs). In short, a currency to decentralize a decentralized currency.
One CPU one vote
Anyone using minimally equipped computer equipment can go into Bitcoin Gold mining.. This environment of equality was one of the references of the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. In addition, although it was not born to make the "competition" to Bitcoin, which if it was intended with Bitcoin Cash when referencing that it was the real Bitcoin, if it is more decentralized.
Bitcoin Gold finally comes out of the desire to protect and support Bitcoin, and help the most famous cryptocurrency to become the decentralized currency that is present throughout the world. What's more, protects equally all users who with a graphics card can dedicate themselves to mining. A really balanced coin.
Similarities and differences of Bitcoin Gold compared to Bitcoin
They really have few differences though a couple of substantial ones. Among their similarities we see that the time delay to confirm transactions is 10 minutes, equal to Bitcoin. Like her, it also has a maximum of 21 million cryptocurrencies as it is a crossroads of the Bitcoin blockchain. That is, it goes in parallel.
Among their differences, we have seen that one of them is the algorithm on which it works, the Equihash, which allows mining with any GPU.
The other was one of the first updates on the ecosystem of Bitcoin Gold, replay protection. Being a crossroads, repetition by transactions is usually common. This happens because both the original and the new currency share the same transaction history. In this way, a person could replicate a transaction from one cryptocurrency to another, receiving double in return. Incorporating replay protection results in a one-chain transaction not being possible.
Bitcoin Gold and its cobbled path
In its fork, users were warned to receive the equivalent coins in Bitcoin Gold to as many Bitcoins they had. Without entering with those who had them in virtual wallets, hardware or software apart, they waited for answers from the exchange houses. The main ones such as Poloniex, Coinbase or Kraken decided to turn their back on Bitcoin Gold. Hours later, for example Poloniex, authorized this fork, it must be said.
Lack of recognition and limited information of the fork, put all those involved and third parties on guard. In a way, this accolade was motivated by the repetition problems that could be encountered and that for that very reason they were tried to solve later.
What's more, Twitter handle @bitcoingolds was used to trick users. Additionally, their website was attacked, and from it a link was promoted where users were encouraged to put their old passwords to obtain new ones with the new BTGs that belonged to them. All this plus tweets from the BTG team towards the fake account led to the theft of a total of more than 3 million dollars.
The May 2018 Hack and Bittrex Goodbye
The month of May 2018 saw one of the biggest hacks with Bitcoin Gold as the protagonist. A total of 18 million dollars from different exchanges. One of the victims was Bittrex, which blamed the cryptocurrency's PoW algorithm while the BTG team appealed that they were not responsible for the policies of each exchange. The blockhain on which it is based had been hacked.
It was a constant push and pull. Bittrex asked them for 6.000 BTGs, valued at nearly $ 130.000, which the organization refused to pay. In a way, because from the startup they said that they had no cash flows, since all the profits from mining were destined to the miners.
Finally, and in view of the fact that the team behind BTG was not going to be held responsible for its blockchain, Bittrex definitively broke ties in September 2018 and took it off his list.
Bitcoin Gold today
Taking as reference the image obtained from the graphs of Investing.com, we can see the monstrous decline that the currency has suffered. The chart, in a one-week period, shows us how the currency enjoyed "good health" for 3 weeks, to be absorbed by the bursting of the bubble. Unlike other cryptocurrencies, its devaluation has been more pronounced, losing positions until occupying the 28th with a current market capitalization of approximately 183 million dollars.
We can see how in the end Community recognition and the security of a cryptocurrency are everything to make it work. Its value is translated into these two pillars that Bitcoin Gold has not been able to sustain, no matter how good its intentions were at birth.
