So you know that Bitcoin fork from back in 2017? The one that was designed to fight the Bitmain monopoly by being ASIC-resistant? Well here are a few things you probably don’t know about Bitcoin Gold right now.
Bitcoin Gold (BTG) was a top-five coin by market cap back in the day, believe it or not. So why did it tank its way down 40th place, and how come you never hear about it anymore? Here are four things you probably don’t know about Bitcoin Gold.
1. Bitcoin Gold Name Is Just an Accident
Speaking to one of Bitcoin Gold’s co-creators, Alejandro Regojo, last week, a Bitcoinist reporter wondered what the story was behind the name.
If like many, you automatically assumed that it was given that name to create the association with digital gold, you’d be wrong.
Regojo replied, “it’s just a name that we thought sounded good, we weren’t trying to create an association between Bitcoin and gold.”
Still, one has to wonder as Bitcoin’s status morphed from “magic internet money” to “digital gold”, whether that had some impact on its brand. Was that the cause of the drop?
2. Satoshi Nakamoto Is Its Creator
Another curiosity that was discovered while conducting research before the interview, was the fact that Regojo’s job title seemed to change almost everywhere it was mentioned, from Co-creator and co-founder to developer.
While you’ll see him cited as a “co-founder” on the Bitcoin Gold website, he’s actually not comfortable with that role–and neither are the rest of the team. That would mean they “founded Bitcoin Gold” when they really see it as a version of the original, whose founder is Satoshi Nakamoto.
If you weren’t aware, BTG was initially created as a hard fork of Bitcoin in 2017, designed to keep mining fair for individuals and “fight the Bitmain monopoly.” However, Regojo points out that unlike Bitcoin Cash or Bitcoin SV, Bitcoin Gold has never been in competition with Bitcoin.
Its community merely wants to implement Bitcoin in the way it feels stays closer to the vision of Satoshi in the white paper. It was designed for everyday use and to allow for individuals to mine with a GPU.
“One CPU, one vote” is the ethos of Bitcoin Gold. ASICs cannot mine on the Bitcoin Gold network thanks to its Equihash algorithm that keeps them out.
3. Bitcoin Gold Has Never Paid Any Listing Fees
Despite suffering from numerous and highly public attacks since its creation, including a DDOS attack during the initial fork, impersonator scams thereafter, and a 51% attack that shorted exchanges, Bitcoin Gold still “hit the market hard”. Regojo says, “people understood the importance of what we were doing”.
So why, then, has it since fallen from a top-five coin to languish around 40th place right now? Because Bitcoin Gold has a policy of not paying listing fees. They also don’t pay for any press or media.
We are on 100 exchanges, we are still a top 100 coin on CoinMarketCap, but we have paid the same amount as Bitcoin to be on exchanges and in wallets–which is zero.
He continues, “It’s very important that people know this. I think we are the only top-100 coin that does not pay listing fees or media. This is how low you can go if you don’t pay for things.”
4. Many of Its Devs Work on the Bitcoin Network, Too
Regojo and many other BTG developers also work on the Bitcoin network. He wants to further the progress and adoption of both and teach the world about their financial options, and that there is an alternative to fiat, whether that’s Bitcoin, Bitcoin Gold, or any other cryptocurrency.
“I am not some kind of Bitcoin maximalist,” he says, “I see the top 100 coins on CoinMarketCap as the new generation of startups. Probably 90% of them will fail, but many will be successful. People need to know there are options available.”
What do you make of Bitcoin Gold these days? Add your thoughts in the comment section below!
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