Bitcoin Gold

Bitcoin Gold is a cryptocurrency based on the Bitcoin source code. It is an open source project with a distributed block transaction register. BTG is the second Bitcoin hard fork after Bitcoin Casch. The project was created to decentralize Bitcoin again. The originators of the project wanted to do this by changing the algorithm, which in turn was to give an equal chance to extract new coins, which in turn was to prevent centralization of mining by large mining farms. However, there is a lot of controversy around the project, mainly due to the fact that the management board has granted a large amount of cryptocurrency. The owners are also accused of obtaining financial benefits by using the Bitcoin name and repeatedly referring to the King of cryptocurrencies mainly for marketing purposes. For this reason, many exchanges refused to support BTG.

The history of the creation of Bitcoin Gold

Bitcoin Gold was created by splitting the main Bitcoin chain. It took place on October 23, 2017 at block 491,407. All Bitcoin holders then received BTG tokens in a 1: 1 ratio to the bitcoins they owned. After the separation of the BTG network, its founders separated 800 blocks, gaining approx. 100 thousand. BTG tokens, which is the main reason for the controversy surrounding the project. The initial valuation of the cryptocurrency was quite high, reaching around $ 500, but its value fell very quickly to around $ 51.05 USD uptill 2021.

Principle of operation

Bitcoin Gold was created as a result of a Bitcoin hard fork. Just like the oldest cryptocurrency, BTG is based on the Proof of Work consensus algorithm, which involves the use of computing power to confirm transactions. So, just like in Bitcoin, there are miners in the BTG network who, in return for providing computing power, receive a reward in the form of newly dug blocks. The current reward after the halving on April 18, 2020 is 6.25 BTG. There are 21 million coins, just like Bitcoins. The main difference between BTG and BTC is the use of a cryptographic algorithm. While Bitcoin uses SHA256, Bitcoin Gold initially used Equihash. It was an algorithm resistant to mining using ASIC devices, commonly known as cryptocurrency miners. In 2018, however, a new model of the ASIC excavator from the Chinese company Bitminer was released, namely the Antminer z9 Mini, which already supported the Equihash algorithm. For this reason, Bitcoin Gold developers decided to use hard0fork, where the main change was the change of the cryptographic algorithm to Zcash. In this way, BTG maintained its resilience to ASICs, and at the same time retained its main idea of decentralizing mining. 

The main problem of the Bitcoin Gold blockchain is a very low hash rate, ie total computing power. For this reason, the project is highly vulnerable to 51% attacks that capture more than half of the total computing power. This allows hackers to completely control the network and spend double the amount of cryptocurrencies. The biggest attack of this type took place on May 18, 2018, when the double issue of the stock exchange, and mainly Bittrex, suffered losses of over $ 18.5 million. Of course, this did not have a positive effect on the perception of the Bitcoin Gold cryptocurrency.

Wallet for Bitcoin Gold

The primary official wallet is the Bitcoin Gold Core Wallet wallet. It is a full-node wallet, ie one that downloads and synchronizes the entire Blockchain history on the computer. From other wallets that support BTG, you can choose from, among others, the Exodus multiwallet. Mobile wallets on which we can store Bitcoin Gold include Coinomi and Freewallet Bitcoin Gold. Of course, BTG can also be stored on hardware wallets, both Ledger and Trezor accept Bitcoin Gold.

Bitcoin Gold quotes

Bitcoin Gold currently ranks 72nd in terms of capitalization among all cryptocurrencies with Market capitalization of $ 894,065,611 USD. Its highest price, ATH, was on November 23, 2017, at $ 539.72. The total number of tokens, just like in the case of Bitcoin, is 21 million, and there are already over 17 million mined. BTG is listed on 47 exchanges. The daily turnover of tokens is around $ 22 million. More than 85% of this trading takes place on the Bit-Z exchange, another 4 on Sistemkoin. The remaining stock exchanges have trace amounts of trading. Bitcoin Gold can be purchased on such famous exchanges as Binance, Bitfinex, Huobi, Bitbay.