Bitcoin Gold (BTG)

Rank #1619

Bitcoin Gold (BTG) is an alternative fork of the Bitcoin network created to change the way mining occurs on the blockchain. The proposal is to reduce the concentration of block production and reinforce the idea of a decentralized ledger with broader participation.

How Bitcoin Gold mining works

Bitcoin Gold seeks to make mining more equitable by allowing more people to participate with common hardware. To do this, it adopts Proof of Work (PoW) using the Equihash-BTG algorithm, described as incompatible with the use of specialized ASICs aimed at Bitcoin mining.

With this approach, mining tends to be distributed among many miners instead of depending on large companies. The idea is to expand the opportunity for participation by users who use common GPUs.

Purpose of the fork and use of BTG

The project was initiated in response to the perception that the Bitcoin blockchain had become excessively centralized. According to the proponents, large companies mine most of Bitcoin, which conflicts with the purpose of peer-to-peer networks.

In the context of the fork, the immediate distribution of 16,5 million BTG is described as intended for people interested in crypto, with a hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain.

Protection technology and replay protection

In addition to the mining mechanism, Bitcoin Gold mentions full replay protection and unique wallet addresses. These elements are presented as necessary to help protect users and their BTG against different types of problems and threats.

In general, the proposal focuses on transitioning the ecosystem to more decentralized mining, using hashing designed to reduce dependence on ASICs.