Introduction
The past few months have been tough for cryptocurrencies. After a historic run in 2017, the market has come crashing down in 2018. Bitcoin, the largest and most well-known cryptocurrency, is down almost 50% from its all-time high of $20,000. Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is down over 70% from its all-time high. All told, the cryptocurrency market has lost over $700 billion in value since mid-January.
Bitcoin Gold (BTG) has been one of the most adversely affected cryptocurrencies. BTG is a “fork” of Bitcoin – meaning it is a copy of the Bitcoin blockchain with a few changes. One of those modifications was to the algorithm that miners use to validate transactions on the blockchain. The purpose of this change was to make mining more decentralized and secure.
BTG has not been able to avoid the cryptocurrency market crash of 2018, unfortunately. Its value has decreased by over 80% from its all-time high in December 2017. This has caused many BTG holders to wonder: “Should I sell my Bitcoin Gold?”
There is no easy answer to that question. We will explore some of the elements you should think about when deciding whether to sell or keep your BTG in this article.
What is Bitcoin Gold?
Bitcoin Gold (BTG) forked from the Bitcoin blockchain on October 24, 2017. The primary goal of BTG is to create a more decentralized version of bitcoin. However, Bitcoin Gold also has some other features that make it stand out.
Bitcoin Gold is impossible to mine with ASICs, which is one of its most defining characteristics. Theoretically, this makes it more decentralized than other cryptocurrencies because any individual with a computer can mine BTG. However, Bitcoin Gold has been criticized because the team pre-mined 100,000 coins before the launch.
Bitcoin Gold has another feature which is that it employs a different proof-of-work algorithm than Bitcoin. The purpose of this was to make Bitcoin Gold more ASIC resistant. Nevertheless, it is not definite if this will be successful in the long term.
At this time, Bitcoin Gold is not widely accepted by exchanges and businesses. This could change in the future, but for now, it remains a relatively niche cryptocurrency.
What are the benefits of Bitcoin Gold?
Some of the advantages of Bitcoin Gold include:
Bitcoin Gold is more decentralized than Bitcoin because it is not controlled by a small number of large mining organizations. Anybody with a computer can mine for Bitcoin Gold.
One of the main advantages of Bitcoin Gold is that it is resistant to ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits). This means that individuals can mine for Bitcoin Gold using a regular computer, without having to invest in costly ASIC miners.
Bitcoin Gold also has the advantage of lower fees than Bitcoin because there are more miners working on a larger number of computers, leading to increased efficiency and lower fees.
What are the drawbacks of Bitcoin Gold?
Bitcoin Gold is often criticized for being a copycat cryptocurrency because it has many characteristics in common with Bitcoin. For example, both Bitcoin and Bitcoin Gold use the same proof-of-work algorithm, which means they are both equally vulnerable to 51% attacks.
Furthermore, Bitcoin Gold has been charged with being too centralized, as a tiny number of people control a large portion of the coin’s hashrate. If these individuals banded together, they could easily tamper with the Bitcoin Gold blockchain.
Another key issue with Bitcoin Gold is that it was pre-mined before it was launched to the public. This means that the developers had a large amount of BTG before it was available to the general public, and this could have been used to manipulate the market.
How does Bitcoin Gold compare to other cryptocurrencies?
Bitcoin Gold was created as a fork of the Bitcoin blockchain on October 24, 2017. The goal of this fork was to make a version of Bitcoin that would be more accessible and decentralized. To reach this objective, Bitcoin Gold implemented a new proof-of-work algorithm. This allows anyone with a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) to mine for Bitcoin Gold.
Bitcoin Gold’s primary competition originates from other digital currencies that are striving to reach similar objectives of decentralization and availability. A few of the most distinguished rivals are Litecoin, Ethereum, and Zcash.
Litecoin is popularly known as “the silver to Bitcoin’s gold.” It was one of the earliest altcoins created after Bitcoin, and it has a lot of similarities with its older sibling. Like Bitcoin Gold, Litecoin also uses a proof-of-work algorithm that is intended to be more user-friendly than Bitcoin’s. Ethereum is another major competitor that shares some characteristics with Bitcoin Gold. Both projects aspire to create a decentralized platform that can be used for various applications. However, Ethereum employs a different consensus algorithm called proof-of-stake, which doesn’t necessitate mining hardware like GPUs. Lastly, Zcash is another cryptocurrency that concentrates on privacy and anonymity. Zcash uses zk-SNARKS, a cutting-edge cryptography protocol, to make sure that all transactions are totally private.
Although all of these cryptocurrencies have some shared objectives, they each have individualized features that make them stand out from one another. When deciding which cryptocurrency to invest in, it’s crucial to think about which features are most vital to you.
Reddit how to claim bitcoin gold blockchain
Bitcoin Gold (BTG) is a cryptocurrency that started in October 2017 as a fork, or copy, of the bitcoin blockchain. The new cryptocurrency improved upon bitcoin’s decentralization by implementing an algorithm that made it impossible for specialized mining equipment, which had become increasingly common, to gain an advantage over more prevalent personal mining devices.
Bitcoin Gold’s ICO (initial coin offering) generated $5 million, with a team of 35 developers working on the project. The objective of the project was to create a more democratic mining ecosystem, as well as to explore new uses for blockchain technology.
Although BTG uses the same blockchain as bitcoin, there are a few key distinctions between the two cryptocurrencies. For example, BTG is not SegWit-compatible, which means it cannot take advantage of SegWit’s quicker transaction times. Also, BTG has a smaller block size than bitcoin, limiting the number of transactions its network can theoretically handle per second.
If you owned Bitcoin (BTC) on an exchange or online service at the time of the fork, you should have received an equal amount of Bitcoin Gold (BTG) to your BTC balance. If you held BTC in a wallet where you control your private keys (a “wallet-exchange”), you can also claim BTG. However, claiming BTG can be complicated and time-consuming, so we advise against claiming BTG unless you’re an experienced cryptocurrency user.
Conclusion
Bitcoin Gold forked from the Bitcoin blockchain on October 24, 2017. The primary distinction between Bitcoin Gold and other digital currencies is that Bitcoin Gold employs an algorithm that makes ASIC-resistant mining possible. Therefore, anybody with a computer can mine for Bitcoin Gold, regardless of whether they have access to specialized mining equipment.
While this may appear to be an advantage, it actually makes Bitcoin Gold less secure than other cryptocurrencies. This is because it is easier to 51% attack a proof-of-work algorithm that is not ASIC-resistant. Also, because Bitcoin Gold is not utilized as much as other cryptocurrencies, it is more vulnerable to price manipulation.
In conclusion, while Bitcoin Gold has some appealing features, it is not as secure or widely adopted as other cryptocurrencies and is therefore not a wise investment.