In about 23 hours a new fork of the Bitcoin Blockchain is expected to take place, creating yet another cryptocurrency. Like the fork that created Bitcoin Cash and the fork expected later this year over the SegWit2x proposal, this splinter of the blockchain will keep the Bitcoin moniker, calling itself Bitcoin Gold.
This means that as soon as tomorrow morning we might see three different Bitcoins, with another one due to come in a month or so. As with all forks, cryptocurrency exchanges are the first service providers to offer official comment on the matter.
Bittrex, for example, criticized the project for its lack of clarity and for conducting a private pre-mine. The venue also notified clients: "When considering adding tokens to Bittrex exchange we look at the risks involved. Bitcoin Gold does not satisfy our criteria for safety for our users. Taking a snapshot of the Bittrex exchange Bitcoin wallet is also a large disruptive undertaking that requires over 24 hours of preparation (Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals are also suspended during this time) and should not be taken lightly."
Make Bitcoin Mining Great Again
The stated aim of Bitcoin Gold is to "make Bitcoin mining decentralized again". The project is meant to disrupt the current mining market where the manufacturing and distribution of mining equipment has become dominated by a handful of companies.
The developers say that by changing Bitcoin’s proof-of-work algorithm from SHA256 to Equihash, all of the specialized mining equipment will be obsolete for mining the forked blockchain. Thus, Bitcoin Gold will provide an opportunity for new people around the world to participate in the mining process with widely-available consumer hardware.
