Bitcoin Gold (Btg)

Bitcoin Gold alters the Bitcoin proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm to create a digital asset that does not require expensive state-of-the-art mining hardware (ASICs). Instead, Bitcoin gold can be purchased through GPU mining, making it more accessible and theoretically restoring network decentralization. The Bitcoin gold project was first announced in July 2017 by Hong Kong-based mining company Bitfinex. [Sources: 1] 

    

Bitcoin Gold (BTG) is a second version of Bitcoin that comes from the Bitcoin source code. The Bitcoin gold fork occurred on July 27, 2017, after a two-year battle between the original Bitcoin and the Bitcoin core. To claim Bitcoin Gold, users had to hold original Bitcoins at the time of fork, but automatically receive the same amount at the same address. [Sources: 1, 7] 

    

The transaction history of Bitcoin is maintained, which means that if you owned Bitcoins before the fork, you now own the same amount of Bitcoin gold. [Sources: 7] 

    

Bitcoin Gold dethrones bitcoin mining companies by releasing an alternative mining algorithm that is less susceptible to ASIC-based tweaks. The cryptocurrency wants to introduce this, enabling users to earn more from their computer cycles. [Sources: 5, 7] 

    

Bitcoin Gold claims it will democratize bitcoin mining by encouraging more investors to put their money there because their transactions are pseudonymous. This should increase the amount that Bitcoin gold users earn, and reduce the cost of mining. [Sources: 5] 

    

This is a community-led project that offers users a fair chance for ubiquitous GPUs. New investors should be lured to BTG coins, which offer a more affordable alternative to widely available consumer hardware produced by mining manufacturers. [Sources: 5] 

    

Bitcoin Gold is designed to decentralize mining and verify and validate bitcoin transactions. Bitcoin gold investors may want to brace themselves for a hit if someone simply moves coins on the blockchain, which split off from the main Bitcoin network last year. All transactions after the Bitcoin fork will be retained, but Bitcoin holders of block 491406 will be awarded the same amount of Bitcoin gold. [Sources: 0, 5] 

    

According to the Bitcoin Gold website, around 664,000 Bitcoins with a total value of about $1.5 million have been moved on the blockchain since Block 491406. [Sources: 0] 

    

As reported by CCN.com, the split occurred after the developers launched the blockchain to launch the BTG network in mid-November. Bitcoin (BTC) has had a rough time in the past with the creation of the Bitcoin Gold Network on November 14, 2016. BTC holders received an equivalent number of BT G-Coins when the network was founded as a Bitcoin offshoot. [Sources: 0, 6] 

    

Bitcoin Gold cloned the transaction history of Bitcoin and optimized the DNA to continue its own evolutionary path. Anyone who owned private BTC keys at the time of the fork was getting essentially the same number of coins for free as Bitcoin gold. [Sources: 6] 

    

This is probably why the value of BTC rose so much in September and October 2017. The bifurcated cryptocurrency known as Bitcoin Gold (BTG) has recently attracted the attention of the crypto community for a number of reasons. [Sources: 4, 6] 

    

In January, after a 51% attack on the Bitcoin Gold Blockchain, software developer James Lovejoy noticed that miners who flip hashtags are likely to spend about $1,200 to hire hashes from Nicehash to carry out the attack. The last time BTG was attacked, it lost more than $18 million worth of BTGs, with many speculators blaming the hashrate distributor NiceHash for the problem. This was the first time in Bitcoin's history that its blockchain was attacked with a "51%" attack, and malicious miners were able to double BTG's spending of about $72,000 in that time. [Sources: 4] 

    

Bitcoin Gold was established in 2017 by the creator of Lightning ASIC, Jack Lao, as a hard fork of bitcoin, who said the main aim of the new cryptocurrency was to improve the original protocol. Should changes occur, farm owners could choose the size of the blocks, set specific mining targets, and earn coins by storing them in bitcoin-gold wallets. [Sources: 2] 

    

Bitcoin Gold was a hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain, and after a successful trial network, the fixed line of Bitcoin Gold was launched in July 2017. The main aim of Bitcoin Goldquake is to give miners the ability to use a graphics processor instead of an ASIC. [Sources: 2, 5] 

    

Bitcoin Gold uses the POW algorithm, which runs on Equihash, the same algorithm as Bitcoin, but with a graphics processor instead of an ASIC. [Sources: 5] 

    

This decentralized nature contradicts the centralization of Bitcoin, which has resulted in some key players now controlling the hashrate of the Bitcoin network. ASICs designed for Bitcoin to restrict competition due to the limited resources in Bitcoin cannot be used. By replacing the mining algorithm with SHA-256 and Equihash, Bitcoin Gold can enable mining with common GPUs, but also integrate ASIC's into the new network and lock them out of new networks. [Sources: 3, 5] 

    

The main technical reason for this is simply that Equihash is a more memory-intensive algorithm that requires more memory and pure computing power, which ASIC miners originally opposed. [Sources: 3] 

    

Sources:

    

[0]: https://www.ccn.com/bitcoin-gold-sell-off-someone-just-split-moved-664000-btg/

    

[1]: https://nomics.com/assets/btg-bitcoin-gold

    

[2]: https://changelly.com/blog/bitcoin-gold-price-prediction-2019-2020/

    

[3]: https://www.crypto-news-flash.com/what-is-bitcoin-gold-btg-fraud-or-legitimate-bitcoin-alternative/

    

[4]: https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-gold-whale-allegedly-controls-half-the-btg-supply/

    

[5]: https://coinswitch.co/info/bitcoin-gold/what-is-bitcoin-gold

    

[6]: https://www.finder.com/how-to-buy-bitcoin-gold

    

[7]: https://www.avatrade.com/forex/cryptocurrencies/bitcoin-gold