Lets Talk About Forks

Today I want to hopefully teach you something about forks. No, I am not talking about the eating utensil you use to eat or salad, or the thing your mother yelled at you  for trying to put it in the electrical outlet when you were a kid. I'm talking about the forks of bitcoin. Bitcoin has had several forks since its creation like Super Bitcoin, Bitcoin Platinum, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Uranium, Bitcoin Gold, and many other along those premises. The two most successful one have been Bitcoin Gold and Bitcoin Cash. These are considered hard forks. It is when a single cryptocurrency splits and become two different versions. An old version and a new one. Allowing people to hold both as individual coins. Both selling at different volumes and different prices. When a cryptocurrency forks you are given the same amount of the new version to start. For example, if you had 5 Bitcoin in your wallet, after the split you would be rewarded with 5 Bitcoin Cash.

Currently the Bitcoin we all know and love so dearly is trading at around $8,000. Bitcoin Cash, the forth highest rated coin on the market is around $860. Bitcoin Gold is way below selling for just barely $50.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) split from Bitcoin (BTC) because of a disagreement on how to handle the scalability problem that they were facing for quite some time. The split came on August 1, 2017. With the split came three things that sets Bitcoin Cash apart. The first was the increase in the maximum block size to eight megabytes. Another thing that came from it was the modification of transaction signature hashing algorithms. Its added protection to the holder, and made things much simpler in terms of wallets, where bitcoin is stored. The final thing it added was the modification of the algorithm that determines a block's proof-of-work difficulty. This just made sure that all coins mined were real and not obtained unfairly.

Bitcoin Gold (BTG) was first launched on November 12th, 2017. It has a feature that protects the users for spending their coin accidentally. It is a lot easier to mine, meaning people with normal computers can compete in the market and not get pushed out of the way by people with $3000 dollar computers specifically designed just to mine. People also call these computers mining rigs.

Both the forks of Bitcoin have advantages over the original. Simply being the original plus more features. But the old saying is "if it isn't broken, why fix it?". The upgrades version provide faster transaction, something the original seriously lacks. They are all peer-to-peer electronic cash for the internet seeking to eliminate the need of banks to oversee transactions.

As I wrap up my blog, I just wanted to share something interesting I found when doing research instead of just talking all nerdy about virtual currency. Bitcoin was recently used in a very large purchase worth nearly $10 million. In return the customer was receiving a gold casting of the hand of former African president, Nelson Mandela. I guess if you have the money for it and nothing better to buy, why not?