October 25th this year, the results of the work of Lightning ASIC developers will be presented to the public. The brainchild of the company, headed by Jack Liao, will be bitcoin hard fork, already known to us under the name Bitcoin Gold. There will be a presentation fork October 25, and already on November 1, the cryptocurrency should join the world stock market. According to the creators of the project, the idea of the Bitcoin fork on October 25 is to improve the protocol, which will allow it to compete with Bitcoin Cash. Also, according to the promises of the developers of the new product, Bitcoin fork on October 25 implies decentralization of mining– this will allow a wider audience of users to participate in the coin mining process, and will also reduce the influence of large companies in the cryptocurrency market.
According to h4x3, one of the developers and project managers, minimalism Bitcoin Gold hard fork resembles the Bitcoin Core codebase, but has been conservatively modified to improve the functionality and usability of the product. The creators of the project want to conduct a practical experiment and understand whether this approach is applicable to the blockchain universe. It is also mentioned that all owners of classic Bitcoin coins will have the opportunity to convert their assets into the equivalent of Bitcoin Gold.
Another specialist involved in the creation of the project and known to the public under the pseudonym The Sorrow, stated that concept of Bitcoin Gold as a hard fork Bitcoin is to change the Proof-of-Work algorithm and use SHA256 instead, which is more stable and can be optimized for GRU mining.
What is Bitcoin Gold (BTG)?
So, What is a Bitcoin Gold fork? and what are its features that allow the product to compete with the mastodons of the cryptocurrency market even before the official presentation of the project?
The Bitcoin network blockchain is divided, which made it possible to create a new cryptocurrency, which we already know as Bitcoin Gold. At the same time, all private keys that have Bitcoin assets on their balance will be able to receive the same amount of cryptocurrency in the equivalent of BTG as early as November 1st - this is what the developers promise us, which is similar to the actions with Bitcoin Cash in August. However, it is noted that the wallet for this cryptocurrency may not be immediately available for work - keep this in mind if you plan to immediately put the received funds into circulation.
If you are interested in a question, how to earn Bitcoin Gold, then it is important to mention here that BTG mining can be carried out using GPU video cards and the Equihash algorithm, which is an analogue of Zcash. This expands the range of the user audience, which is relevant today.
Hard fork Bitcoin Gold (BTG)
If we talk about what is good about Bitcoin Gold, then the first thing that immediately comes to mind upon a detailed consideration of all the information we know about this project is the fact that in development Bitcoin Gold Some of the most innovative minds in the modern cryptocurrency world took part. Initially, when no one had even heard of what is Bitcoin Gold, the idea of creating an experimental coin came to the mind of Jack Liao, the founder of Lightning ASIC. He was supported by the owners of Hong Kong mining farms and an anonymous person under the nickname h4x3. Despite the fact that the implementation of the Bitcoin Gold project took place within a relatively short period of time, which makes some users think that it was “cooked up” hastily, this does not interfere Bitcoin Gold become a popular coin even before its official introduction to the market.
If you ask what a Bitcoin Gold hard fork is, then it immediately makes sense to talk about the improved protocol algorithm and the transition to high-speed GPU graphics processors for mining. This is the same Equihash algorithm with which Zcash is mined. At the same time, farms are given the opportunity to choose the block size, which in the default settings is equal to one “meter”.
Also, when considering the subject of what Bitcoin Gold is, it is necessary to mention the rate of the digital asset on the market. At the time of the launch of the new coin, the developers plan to maintain the value of the token at about 500 US dollars. Due to the decrease in excitement and excitement around the new product, the exchange rate may fall slightly, and already in the first months of next year it will be possible to judge this crypt on its real merits.
Why Bitcoin Gold (BTG) appeared
The developers themselves, answering the question, what is Bitcoin Gold (BTG), call the coin a “friendly fork” option, that is, they position their product as a full-fledged cryptocurrency, while declaring their goals to develop and create a real competitor to Bitcoin, Ethereum and other altcoins. From their words, the conclusion emerges that we are about to get acquainted with an entire ecosystem, advanced mining and a technical plan to promote the coin to the masses with a long-term prospect of existence.
The main differences between Bitcoin Gold and Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash
And now about the differences between Bitcoin Gold from its predecessors in the form of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. As mentioned above, the developers used a different Equihash algorithm for their brainchild for mining on GPU graphics processors. It is ASIC miners who make up the decentralized ecosystem management team, which allows them to solve many of the problems that users of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies had to face.
Using this algorithm also allows Bitcoin Gold be a full-fledged competitor to Ethereum, which has a significant position in the exchange market. Interestingly, Ethereum is announcing its intentions to switch from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake next year. It is this company that today holds the bulk of the mining capacity used for mining all over the world. The Bitcoin Gold developers apparently know something, because using Proof-of-Work will allow them to become the new and main recipient of power in the future.
also in Bitcoin Gold changes were made in the algorithmic difficulty settings - every two weeks the system creates special “interference” to determine the category of difficulty of mining a particular block in order to receive a reward for its extraction. After entering the market Bitcoin Cash creators BTG Changed the adjustment of the mining difficulty level for each found block.
Prospects for Bitcoin Gold
What are our prospects for Bitcoin Gold? The project, if you do not take into account all its manufacturability and so on, can also be used as a backup copy in the event of an emergency recovery of the Bitcoin blockchain, which is also very important for owners of precious tokens. Its code can be merged with the Bitcoin code, which will solve many of the network's problems stemming from the monopoly on ASIC products. That is, in fact, Bitcoin Gold if Bitcoin collapses, it will become the new leader in the cryptocurrency market, which sounds very “sweet” and promising. At the same time, the developers confirm the need to eliminate some technical nuances for the system to fully function without bugs. Even without a wallet cryptocurrency Bitcoin Gold will be made available to users for testing for a two-week period. Also, the creators of the project have yet to add high-quality code to protect the product from reproduction, which will provide guarantees to users against the possibility of accidental use of real Bitcoin.
The biggest criticism of the project Bitcoin Gold Today, the decision of programmers on the possibility of mining coins is being exposed Bitcoin Gold from the moment of launching the product only for yourself for a certain period of time. Users have expressed doubts that it is unknown how many blocks will be mined, although it has been stated that this number will not exceed one percent of the total volume.
By the way, about cryptocurrency support Bitcoin Gold reported large companies of the exchange market: Bitexchange, CFD, Bitstar and Coinbase, which indicates hopes for the project and its long-term work.
On October 25, Bitcoin will undergo a hard fork, which will result in the emergence of a new cryptocurrency - Bitcoin Gold (BTG). On November 1, current Bitcoin owners will be credited with the same amount of BTG as the Bitcoin in their wallets, just like Bitcoin Cash did in August. However, the Bitcoin Gold wallet may not be available by then, and there could be a delay of several weeks before holders can use the new coins.
Behind Bitcoin Gold is a team of developers, miners and other contributors, led by Jack Liao, chief executive of a Hong Kong-based mining hardware company. His financial partner, known simply as Woobie, is a mining magnate and owner of the Chinese bitcoin news portal Jinse.com. The lead developer of the project is known under the nickname H4x3rotab. In addition to them, you can see several more developers and contributors in the GitHub repository and in the slack channel.
The development team considers this fork “friendly,” but many changes make it less like Bitcoin Cash and more like an accessory. H4x3rotab explained to Brave New Coin that there are legitimate interests of people who would benefit from blocking upcoming Bitcoin upgrades through hard forks such as C-cash, D-cash or SegWit4x and SegWit8x.”
His team plans to fend off this attack by making Bitcoin Gold the same support mechanism that Litecoin became for segwit when segwit first occurred. However, unlike Litecoin, which has shorter blocks and uses a different but still ASIC-enabled mining algorithm, Bitcoin Gold is “also a real blockchain on which Bitcoin upgrades can be run,” says H4x3rotab.
“Bitcoin Gold is also a real blockchain on which you can run upgrades for Bitcoin” - Lead Bitcoin Gold Developer, h4x3rotab
The initiator and main investor of the project says that the goal of Bitcoin Gold is to compete with Bcash, Ethereum, and GPU coins, increase the decentralization of miners and protect the Bitcoin ecosystem. “We use Segwit and try to stay as close to the original as possible,” says Liao. “Because, unlike Bcash, we understand that the best engineers in the industry are working on Core, it is clear that if we follow them, we will lead Bgold to a happy future.”
The main change in the code that allows it to be an addition to Bitcoin is that a different mining algorithm is used, which is not subject to ASIC chips. It was called Equihash. Zcash uses the same algorithm, and like Ethereum, both of these coins require the use of GPUs instead of the ASIC mining machines that Bitcoin currently uses. ASICS, according to the Bitcoin team and their allies, are the main source of many of Bitcoin's problems because they keep Bitcoin concentrated in the hands of a small number of miners.
Another advantage of the project is the use of the Equihash algorithm instead of Bitcoin's SHA-256. Bitcoin Gold will thus compete for hardware with Ethereum, while remaining closer in design to Zcash. This is worth noting because Ethereum plans to change its Proof of Work algorithm to a new one based on Proof of Stake in 2018.
Ethereum currently uses a large percentage of the world's GPU mining hardware, so the Bitcoin Gold team is designing it to be the successor to all that hardware.
Bitcoin Gold also changed the algorithm difficulty modification time. Every two weeks, Bitcoin adjusts the difficulty of the “task,” making it easier or harder to form a block and receive a reward. This makes sure that as mining capacity increases, blocks will continue to be formed at about one per 10 minutes. This system worked great until the Bitcoin Cash fork in August, but now miner power fluctuates so frequently that the Bit team
coin Gold considered 2 weeks too long. Instead, they will calculate and change the difficulty with each block formed.
Although Bitcoin Gold has been in development since July, it has only recently taken the form of little more than another dividend to Bitcoin holders. This particular fork is similar enough to Bitcoin to be a recovery vehicle for November's SegWit2x - it is being positioned as a possible Bitcoin replacement out of necessity. It can also be merged with the code of Bitcoin itself, thereby eliminating the problems rooted in the ASIC monopoly.
“Yes, we will give Bitcoin BIP” - Jack Liao, CEO of LightningAsic
Liao was fine with the idea that Bitcoin Gold could become Bitcoin under certain circumstances, but said such a decision was “a community choice. No one can accept it alone.” When asked how he would feel about a possible merger between Bitcoin Gold and Bitcoin code, he told Brave New Coin: “Okay. We will provide BIP for Bitcoin.”
Bitcoin Gold still has a few issues to resolve before launch. Mining programs, a mining pool, a block explorer must also be released, and the project also does not have a wallet. There are still plans to allow miners to mine Bitcoin Gold in a test mode on the test network over the next two weeks. In addition, the project does not yet have replay protection.
This change to the code will ensure that Bitcoin Gold users do not accidentally spend real Bitcoin and vice versa, which is known as a “replay attack.” Be that as it may, Liao assured people who asked him that “Bgold will receive replay protection; Bitcoin-friendliness is paramount.”
The biggest criticism of the project, however, is the developers' decision to mine the new blockchain themselves for some time after the fork - thereby keeping all the rewards for themselves. The community is concerned that an unknown amount of Bitcoin Gold will be mined this way. In the H4x3rotab slack channel, he said that the number of blocks they are going to mine is still being discussed, and “it will be a maximum of 1 percent of the total.”
Two exchanges have already confirmed that they will be trading BTG in November: Hong Kong's Bitexchange and the new CFD exchange Bitstar.
-
A new cryptocurrency enters the market
In October, a new currency will appear on the cryptocurrency market - Bitcoin Gold, the extraction of which may be easier than classic Bitcoin. How to be among those who will get it, and what growth potential does it have?
Photo: Alina Sibiryakova for RBC
In October, the cryptocurrency market is expecting a new addition: Bitcoin, the most influential cryptocurrency in the world, may have a younger brother - the Bitcoin Gold (BTG) cryptocurrency.
Its creators plan to hold a so-called fork on October 25, that is, to divide the Bitcoin chains in the blockchain. If everything goes well, BTG will be able to repeat the success of another Bitcoin clone - Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which was also born as a result of a fork that took place in early August, and which, in just a couple of months of its existence, became the fourth most valuable cryptocurrency on the market.
RBC figured out how an investor can get new coins and what their growth potential is.
Blockchain— a distributed database that contains information about all transactions carried out by system participants.
Cryptocurrency— a digital asset created on the basis of this technology.
Mining— a method of mining cryptocurrency, based on providing one’s own computing resources to perform a mathematical task of verifying and carrying out a cryptocurrency transaction.
Bitcoin harvester- a powerful computer for mining, assembled from several video cards (usually from four to eight), a motherboard and a power supply.
Mining farm— a specially equipped room for installing Bitcoin harvesters, as a rule, has its own power supply line and cooling equipment
Cryptocurrency wallet— a special program that allows its owner to access funds recorded in the blockchain.
Fork— changing the source code in the blockchain, making changes to the algorithm for the functioning of the cryptocurrency. There are two varieties: soft fork and hard fork. A soft fork implies not very significant changes in the operation of the cryptocurrency network. During a hard fork, the changes are so significant that the nodes that accepted them seem to separate. For example, the algorithm for confirming transactions is changing. At this moment, the chain of blocks bifurcates: the previous algorithm remains in one, and the new one remains in the second. The old chain will only store information about transactions on its chain. New - information about all transactions that occurred on the main network before the split, and information about your network after the hard fork.
Why do we need a new coin?
This is not the first attempt to create a “new” Bitcoin. Currently, the capitalization of this cryptocurrency is $95 billion. “Watching its success, many people are thinking about creating a similar currency,” says Mikhail Mashchenko, an analyst at the social network for investors eToro in Russia and the CIS.
The crypto community has already discussed the possibility of the emergence of such currencies as Bitcoin XT, Bitcoin Ultimate and Bitcoin Classic. So far, only the experiment with VSN has been successful. The creation of Bitcoin Gold is, as the ideologists of the change say, an attempt to return the cryptocurrency to the status of “digital gold”, which, according to part of the community, Bitcoin has begun to lose. Supporters of the Bitcoin hard fork even began to use slogans such as “Make Bitcoin decentralized again” or simply “Make bitcoin great again,” parodying the slogan of US President Donald Trump during the 2016 election campaign.
The initiator of the Bitcoin hard fork was a team of miners and developers led by Jack Liao, the head of a large mining company from Hong Kong, LightningASIC, which produces the most popular mining equipment under the ASIC brand. “The main idea of the fork is to create an analogue of Bitcoin that can be mined by a larger number of participants, thereby reducing the influence of large mining farms,” explains Pavel Matveev, co-founder of the Wirex cryptobank.
The fact is that now a big role in the market is played by companies that engage in mining on an industrial scale, using expensive equipment that is inaccessible to most. “Currently, several large mining pools that mine currency using ASICs have too much influence on the network and pose a threat,” confirms Mikhail Mashchenko. “Many coins do this - Zcash, Monero, Dash and others. In the future, such an algorithm should have a positive impact on the security of the network,” says Anton Bukov, leading developer of the BitClave blockchain platform.
The creators of Bitcoin Gold want to use a new algorithm that will break the monopoly of factory farms. It will be possible to mine the new coin on standard video processors. “This will make mining accessible to a larger number of participants, and the influence of large companies will accordingly decrease,” explains Tokenbox managing partner Viktor Shpakovsky.
Who will receive BTG
Although there is little time left before the Bitcoin hard fork, there is still no clear understanding in the community of how it will happen. But most experts believe that, as in the case of BCH, everyone who owns the original Bitcoin will receive the new currency, regardless of the type of cryptocurrency wallet. “How many original Bitcoins will be in your wallet on October 25, the same number of Bitcoin Gold coins you can get,” predicts Viktor Shpakovsky.
In his opinion, the first to receive the new cryptocurrency will be those investors who store their funds in the wallets of cryptocurrency exchanges that supported the Bitcoin fork (to date, three large exchanges have already announced support for BTG - Bitexchange, Coinbase and Bitstar). “If, for example, you store bitcoins on an exchange that is not going to support BTC Gold, it will be difficult or impossible to receive coins,” Bukov agrees.
As for their own wallets, it is not yet known which of them will be a priority for the fork organizers. “Even those who kept funds in wallets that did not support this cryptocurrency received Bitcoin Cash. In my opinion, the most optimal way is to keep them on a wallet, and not on an exchange, because in the second case you depend on this very exchange. If she doesn’t want to, she won’t credit you with funds,” says Mikhail Mashchenko.
Ultimately, everything depends on the initiators of the fork, concludes Dmitry Dolgov, operating director of the BankEx fintech platform. “Bitcoin cash, for example, can be obtained even now, almost three months after its creation. Perhaps the same will happen with Bitcoin Gold. Or perhaps it will only be issued on October 25th. We will only learn this order during the fork,” he says.
Technically, most likely, BTG will be accrued as follows. If the funds are on the exchange, the owner’s balance will be automatically replenished with new coins. If funds are stored in a cryptocurrency wallet, then it will be possible to display the new balance with Bitcoin Gold. “I think that within some time it will be connected to all major devices in any case,” concludes Dmitry Dolgov.
The cost of the future coin is also shrouded in mystery. According to Alexander Boyarintsev, CEO of CryptoFund, Bitcoin Gold may well follow the path of BCH. “That is, the cost will be around $300 per coin at the current rate,” he believes. According to the founder of the Blockchain.ru project, Dmitry Matsuk, the initial price of Bitcoin Gold could reach $500. The founder of the Universa blockchain, Alexander Borodich, expects rapid growth from the currency. “Immediately after the fork, the exchange rate value of BTG can rise from several hundred to a thousand dollars,” he admits.
According to Pavel Matveev, forecasts are complicated by the fact that the value of the currency can be directly affected by the support of the fork from the mining community. If BTG is cheap (for example, a thousand times cheaper than classic Bitcoin), its demand will be minimal, the expert believes.
But in any case, the new coin will find its investor, experts are sure. “It will be more profitable for miners to mine BTG, so most likely the demand for it will grow,” says Matsuk. First of all, it will be of interest to miners of the cryptocurrency ether (Ethereum, the second most popular cryptocurrency in the world), who use video cards for its mining. “Given that Ethereum will soon undergo changes and a gradual change in the type of mining, it is the miners of the Ethereum network that can switch to Bitcoin Gold mining,” explains Dmitry Matsuk.
Bitcoin has already reacted
The upcoming fork has already contributed to the Bitcoin rate, experts say. Over the past month, the rate of the world's main cryptocurrency has almost doubled. A new record was set on October 12-13: first, the coin crossed the threshold of $5 thousand, and then, according to Coindesk and Coinmarketcap, its value rose to $5855, showing a daily increase of more than 20%.
Investors began to transfer their funds to Bitcoin in order to receive BTG coins when divided, experts explain. “Speculators, counting on “free” coins during the hard fork, are buying up bitcoins at full speed, which can lead to an increase in the exchange rate to $6 thousand per coin. And this is far from the limit of the capabilities of the “oldest cryptocurrency,” Mikhail Mashchenko is sure.
However, crypto enthusiasts should not forget that a rise may be followed by a correction, reminds Dmitry Matsuk. “Closer to the hard fork date, the Bitcoin rate may experience downward adjustments, as some speculators will take profits. It is possible that this will happen before October 25,” he predicts.
Bitcoin reacted to the hard fork in August by falling 5% in the first two days, but then rose 20% in just three days. “Keeping in mind the situation with Bitcoin Cash, market participants will likely increase the number of Bitcoins and hold them, as this will allow them to obtain more Bitcoin Gold coins. This could lead to the fact that we will already see a new maximum in the price of Bitcoin,” suggests Viktor Shpakovsky. After the release of a new coin, according to Dmitry Dolgov, the Bitcoin rate may rise, but only slightly.
Mikhail Mashchenko believes that investors should pay attention to Bitcoin in light of the events of the next two months. “Bitcoin has already become expensive, but in any case, if you want to get a new coin, then it makes sense to buy new BTC,” he says. In addition, when Bitcoin Cash appeared, many investors sold it and bought Bitcoin coins in return, which also affected its price. “Perhaps the same thing will happen now: the emergence of Bitcoin Gold will raise the price of Bitcoin,” the expert suggests.
Progress in the cryptocurrency market never ceases to amaze users with its speed and the release of various innovations related to this topic. Competent people have long been hearing about an event that was supposed to take place on October 25, but took place even earlier - the division of Bitcoin and the creation of a new Bitcoin Gold coin. In addition, the new coin may become one of the openings for mining with classic GPU video cards, which are currently used to mine currencies such as Zcash, Ethereum, Monero and others.
In this article we will have to examine a number of issues regarding the new Bitcoin Gold cryptocurrency, its essence, mining capabilities, as well as the details of receiving free coins for users who have classic Bitcoin at their disposal.
What is Bitcoin Gold
Many people have heard about a company engaged in mining farms called Lightning ASIC. Its founder is Chinese businessman Jack Liao. In July 2017, he had the idea to create a project called Bitcoin Gold. The founder intends to improve the original protocol by abandoning the conventional method of mining in the form of ASIC equipment, moving to another stage. The search for Bitcoin coins will be carried out using powerful classic video cards - GPU. The alternative coin Zcash uses the Equihash protocol instead of the original SHA256. The same method will be used to mine Bitcoin Gold. The creators claim that cryptocurrency can only be mined using GPUs. This should definitely attract the attention of many miners.
On the way to his goal, Jack Liao assembled a powerful team consisting of miners and professional developers. A businessman and founder of a Chinese news portal supported the idea and also became Liao’s financial partner. His name is Wubi, and under the username H4x3rotab he is known as an anonymous developer.
Is the new product promising?
The new product has many differences from Bitcoin Cash, despite the creators’ statement that it is a friendly fork. This has its own interests, as Wubi has already explained. The goal of Jack Liao's team is to create a new revolution that can support Bitcoin, and not harm it. The company will also try to make its coin competitive with Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies mined using the computing power of video cards. The main plans include the task of preserving the Bitcoin ecosystem as a whole.Subtleties of Bitcoin Gold
As described above, Bitcoin Gold will not use the standard mining algorithm, but Equihash, which will complement Bitcoin. Zcash and Ethereum, which rely on high-performance graphics cards to mine, use the same method instead of ASIC-based software. According to Bitcoin developers, ASIC-based miners are one of the many flaws of Bitcoin at the present time, since Bitcoin is mined and concentrated today by a small number of miners, mostly from China.In order to mine Ethereum, a large number of video cards are used around the world. The Ethereum team plans to change the mining method in 2018. Having created its own cryptocurrency, it is possible that Bitcoin Gold will be able to compete with Ethereum, and even outdo its opponent in the near future. At least, this is what the creators of the coin are counting on.
Bitcoin Gold decided to change the algorithm for calculating blocks. A “noise” parameter was created that runs every week, adjusting the difficulty of calculating blocks for miners, after which a reward can be received. Mining power is growing every day and developers must be sure that blocks will be mined at a certain frequency, a block within ten minutes.
Wallets and purchasing Bitcoin Gold
Secret keys from classic BTC wallets (Privat Key) will allow their owners to receive the Bitcoin Gold cryptocurrency. Any wallet that the user uses is suitable for this procedure, but the main thing is to be able to quickly access your personal keys. In addition, at the moment, the new coin is supported by several crypto exchanges, so if you have classic Bitcoin on your balance on the exchanges listed below, you will be provided with the same amount of the new cryptocurrency - BTG. Therefore, if you want to receive Bitcoin Gold credits, and not wait for the weather from the sea, then you should get your bitcoins on one of the proposed exchanges. Full latest information:Exchanges that will credit Bitcoin Gold tokens if you have bitcoins in your account:
- ▪️HitBTC
▪️Bitexchange
▪️Yobit (already enrolled)
▪️Bittrex
▪️Bitstar
▪️Bitfinex (already credited)Exchanges that will NOT credit BTG:
- ▪️WEXnz
▪️EXMO
▪️CoinbaseExchanges that are still undecided:
- ▪️Poloniex
▪️Kraken
▪️BitbayLedger and Tezor wallets will add support for BTG if the code is available and the hard fork occurs with anti-duplicate transaction protection and if it is successful.
Owners of Blockchain info accounts, even if the wallet refuses to credit BTG, will be able to create a private key from the phrase on the wallet that this fork will support (this is the BIP39 standard, which is supported by the entire Bitcoin network).
As for receiving Bitcoin Gold by holders of “cold” wallets like Bitcoin Core, Electrum and others, the presence of a private key in the wallet is already 99% confirmation that the new coin can be received in the same quantity as those present at the time of the hard fork on BTC account. Now we just have to wait for the moment when it becomes possible to receive them on the corresponding new wallet, which can be downloaded, as was the case with Bitcoin ABC for the Bitcoin Cash coin, or other alternative options that will definitely be available.
At what price does BTG start and its further trends?
Despite the fact that the Bitcoin Gold hard fork was expected on October 25, a little earlier, namely on October 24 in the morning Moscow time, a snapshot of the blockchain had already taken place on the coveted block 491407, which will probably become memorable for the creators of Bitcoin Gold if the coin becomes successful.
The Bitcoin Gold fork was expected to happen on October 25, but the Bitcoin network reached the specified block a little faster. According to the developers, the network itself will not be launched immediately, but around November 1. At the same time, cryptocurrency mining will also be available.
Regarding the possible price, according to some assumptions, one should expect that the starting price of the cryptocurrency will be around $500. At least on the Yobit exchange, the day before the fork, users were already given cryptocurrency and trading began at 0.12 BTC. The Bitfinex exchange awarded users Bitcoin Gold tokens and the cost of the cryptocurrency was $159.
After the excitement around the new coin subsides, the price will most likely become more logical and correct, although the rate largely depends on the further actions of the developers, including the fulfillment of their promise not to put their pre-mine coins up for sale. According to analysts’ expectations, starting from 2018, the currency will gradually be tested and conclusions drawn about its security, demand, and so on. The project is a bit crude and, as many believe, was developed hastily. More than once, Bitcoin Gold developers will have to eliminate vulnerabilities and various problems in their system. By the way, these were also present in Ethereum Classic. And at the time of the fork on October 24, the official website of the cryptocurrency had already been under a DDOS attack for about 5 hours, which indicates competition and interest in the currency.Bitcoin Gold Growth Prospects
This hard fork is in some ways similar to Bitcoin. Whatever its future in the cryptocurrency market, BTG may well become a backup option to its older brother. It is also possible that a connection with Bitcoin will take place for a number of reasons. For example, if the SegWit2x hard fork carried out in November fails. Jack Liao expressed his positive opinion about joining Bitcoin. But before any global changes occur, serious work will need to be done on the errors in the Bitcoin Gold system. Soon it is planned to release test software for mining and develop a wallet, which does not yet exist.A lot of criticism was directed at BTG. The cryptocurrency community is alarmed and has a lot of questions about Bitcoin mining. Commenting on the criticism, the creators said that questions about the number of mined blocks are in limbo.
In general, the entire current situation makes it clear that there will be no easy solutions. The creators of Bitcoin Gold will have to refine their system more than once so that it can interest and inspire the confidence of potential users, including the so-called “home miners” who hope to get an expensive coin that has a good price and the possibility of easy mining.
You can ask any questions on Skype andrew_investor, Telegram @millioninvestor or write to e-mail: . And don't forget to subscribe to our groups on social networks.
Bitcoin Gold is a fork of Bitcoin. On October 25th, the Bitcoin blockchain will be split to create a new cryptocurrency. At this moment, a fork will appear - Bitcoin Gold (BTG). Owners of regular Bitcoin at that time will receive the same amount of Bitcoin Gold on November 1, similar to what they received from Bitcoin Cash in early August.
However, the wallet for Bitcoin Gold may not yet be available by then, which could cause a delay of several weeks before owners can use the new coins.
The main feature of Bitcoin Gold for miners is that BTG is mined only with video cards (GPUs), using the Equihash algorithm (similar to Zcash).
As can be seen from the table, only Bitcoin Gold can be mined using video cards. The new fork will change the Proof-of-Work algorithm from SHA256 to Equihash, which will be ASIC-resistant and optimized specifically for GPU mining.
BitcoinGold rate and price chart
About Bitcoin Gold at the moment
- The Bitcoin Gold project, introduced back in July, was created by Jack Liao, the founder of Lightning ASIC, a mining farm company based in Hong Kong, and an anonymous developer named “h4x3.”
- The main idea of the planned plan is to improve the original protocol, by moving from the usual mining algorithm to Bitcoin mining using high-speed GPU graphics processors.
- According to team representatives, the new BTG will not be based on the original SHA256 algorithm, but on Equihash. This protocol is also used in the mining of the alternative cryptocurrency Zcash.
- Owners of mining farms will have access to choosing the block size they want to mine. The default will remain 1 MB
What is the value of the new Bitcoin fork?
Dubbed a "friendly fork" by its developers, this version of Bitcoin has many differences that make it less like Bitcoin Cash and more like a free app to Bitcoin. H4x3rotab explained that there are “hidden interests” that benefit from blocking upcoming Bitcoin upgrades by doing various hard forks such as C-cash, D-cash or SegWit4x and SegWit8x.”
His team's plan to combat this negative phenomenon is for Bitcoin Gold to take a similar, supportive role to Bitcoin, just as Litecoin did to the SegWit update. However, unlike Litecoin, which has a shorter block time and uses a mining algorithm that is different but still allows the use of ASICs, H4x3rotab says that:
“Bitcoin Gold could also be a real blockchain for checking Bitcoin updates.”
The project's creator and main financial backer says Bitcoin Gold's goal is to compete with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and other GPU-mined cryptocurrencies, increase the decentralization of mining and protect the Bitcoin ecosystem.
“We will use SegWit and try to follow the Core team as closely as possible,” says Liao. “Because, unlike Bitcoin Cash, we know that the best engineers in the industry are working on Core, so this is by far the best technical plan to take Bitcoin Gold safely into the future.”
Bitcoin Gold Cost
Presumably, at the time of launch, on the wave of interest, the price of Bitcoin Gold will be at $500. Gradually, as the excitement around the crypto newcomer subsides, its exchange rate will begin to decrease somewhat. And then the credit of trust will end, and at the beginning of 2018 Bitcoin Gold will begin to be judged on its real merits. How convenient and secure will this currency be, will it be in demand, will it take its rightful place on cryptocurrency exchanges.
The number of BTG coins will be the same as BTC - 21 million. The time for 1 block is also similar - 10 minutes.
The Equihash algorithm allows ordinary computers to participate in mining due to the fact that it does not allow the workload to be split into smaller work packages. As a result, more efficient mining can be achieved on standard computers and makes the production of ASIC miners for this algorithm unprofitable.
What are the prospects for Bitcoin Gold?
Although the Bitcoin Gold project began development back in July, it recently began to provide another value for Bitcoin owners. This particular hard fork is very similar to Bitcoin, and could serve as a disaster recovery backup for the Bitcoin blockchain if, for example, the SegWit2x hard fork in November does not go well - thus positioning Bitcoin Gold as a fallback option for Bitcoin. It might even be possible to merge its code into Bitcoin's code, thereby eliminating Bitcoin's problems that stem from its ASIC monopoly.
Liao welcomed the idea that Bitcoin Gold could become Bitcoin in such circumstances, but says such a decision “depends on the choice of the community. No one alone can solve this.” When asked if he welcomes the Bitcoin Gold code joining the main Bitcoin catalog, he said:
“Yes, we will provide BIP for Bitcoin.”
However, Bitcoin Gold still has several issues that need to be ironed out before it launches. The mining software, mining pool and block explorer have not yet been released, and although the project does not yet have a wallet, it still plans to allow miners to test Bitcoin Gold on the test network for two weeks.
Additionally, the project has not yet added good anti-replay code to its software. This important code change ensures that Bitcoin Gold users don't accidentally spend real Bitcoin and vice versa. However, Liao assured several different people that
“Bitcoin Gold will have this protection and trust in Bitcoin is of utmost importance.”
The biggest criticism leveled at the project is the developers' decision to mine only for themselves for some time after the launch of the new blockchain. The community is concerned that it will be unknown how much Bitcoin Gold will be mined. Speaking to supporters in a Slack channel, H4x3rotab says the number of blocks they plan to mine is still under discussion and "will be no more than one percent of the total supply."
From the outset, two major cryptocurrency exchanges announced support for BTG in November: Bitexchange in Hong Kong and the new CFD exchange, Bitstar.
A little later, the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase also announced that it will support both competing chains after the upcoming SegWit2x hard fork, scheduled for November.
Official website of the new fork http://btcgpu.org