December 27 there was another fork of bitcoin with a loud name Bitcoin God and no less loud reduction of GOD. About its features and what will change for the holders of crypto-currency, in the special material for ForkLog tells the analyst of the company Exante Victor Argonov.
In 2017, many investors are used to the reproduction of "bitcoins" and do not see a particular threat in this. The main branch of bitcoin does not disappear anywhere from the purse, and sometimes forfeit coins appear for free. But some people still do not understand what is going on and continue to ask questions: "What kind of new fork?", "Will it replace the old bitcoin?", "Why such an important event happened without coordination in the community?", Etc.
Of course, in the days following the fork, much about the new currency remains unknown. But there is also basic information that everyone should know.
What is already known
Fact 1. Bitcoin God (GOD) does not replace the official Bitcoin (BTC), but is a new independent currency
GOD is technically independent of BTC. He has his own development team, the head is the Chinese businessman Chandler Guo. Its creation was not the result of voting by the BTC community. After fork, BTC retains its algorithm and continues to trade in the same place as before. Even if in the future GOD will compete with him, now he does not attempt to work for BTC. In addition to free new coins in the wallet, which we will discuss below.
Fact 2. In the purses of BTC owners there will be free coins GOD
A similar gift holders BTC received, for example, when the currency Bitcoin Cash (BCH). How valuable is the new GOD gift - it is not yet clear whether the market will decide this.
Fact 3. GOD has technical advantages over BTC
As you know, BTC has a number of technical problems, among which - low network bandwidth. He has a small block block size, which in November wanted to increase from 1 MB to 2 MB, but the community could not reach consensus. Since August, it has the technology SegWit, which allows you to do a lot of transactions around the block, but it is still not used in full force. On the other hand, the nearest BTC competitor, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), has a huge block of 8 MB, but does not use SegWit. GOD promises to include the advantages of both currencies and add to them some more.
On the official website, developers claim the following benefits of GOD. First, the currency supports SegWit (and in the future - and the Lightning Network) and simultaneously has an enlarged block. Secondly, the currency is anonymous - like ZCash (ZEC), Dash (DASH), Monero (XMR). Thirdly, the currency supports the smart contracts that the currency Ethereum (ETH) is so famous for.
Thus, GOD fully or partially "took on board" the advantages of a number of coins: BTC (SegWit / LN), BCH (large block), ZEC & DASH & XMR (anonymity), ETH (smart contracts).
Fact 4. GOD uses a radically different mining model: PoS instead of PoW
The modern agiotage around mining mainly revolves around one of its methods: PoW (Proof of Work). The award for PoW is proportional to the computing power that the miner provided for network maintenance. The result of this is the competition between the miners and a large consumption of electricity. But each transaction is confirmed by a number of network participants, which ensures its decentralization. It is PoW used in BTC and a lot of other coins. But PoW has both pluses and minuses.
From the point of view of PoW enthusiasts, it not only ensures decentralization, but also gives people income for participating in the creation of a new economy. There is a global redistribution of capital in favor of those who are ideologically close to the creators of crypto-currencies - the supporters of a free non-state market. Even if an accidental person started to engage in mining, he, if to use Marxist terminology, still becomes classically close to the crypto-currency community. He will, as a minimum, be interested in liberal laws over crypto-currencies.
But the main goal of PoW is not enrichment of miners, and, especially, not high energy consumption. The goal is decentralization of the network, protecting it from attacks. And not everyone agrees that PoW is the best method for this. Moreover, most of the miners are united in huge pools. PoS (Proof of Stake) is an energy-efficient alternative to PoW, in which the reward depends not on the energy spent, but on the number of coins in the member's purse.
GOD uses the PoS method. It's hard to say whether this will be useful for popularizing the currency. But it is clear that the current bitcoin-miners will not abandon their activities in favor of a new currency, where their capacities are useless. This is another factor, thanks to which GOD has not yet made an attempt on the BTC network.
What remains unclear
Question 1. How long is the developer's aim?
High technical characteristics of the currency - this is good. But that they showed themselves in practice, the currency should not only be released, but also modified as it spreads. In the course of operation, mistakes are almost unavoidable, which must be corrected, and the time will show all new technical requirements to the currency. In order for the currency to be competitive, it must be backed by a responsible team, aimed not only at rapid enrichment, but also at the long-term success of the project. The latter, as the experience of many altcoins shows, is far from always.
Question 2. Which exchanges will accept the currency for trading?
The GOD website contains a large list of crypto-exchange exchanges. But here we are forced to believe the developers on the floor. Known is the sad experience of another recent bitcoin fork - Bitcoin Gold (BTG) - which many exchanges refused to accept for trading. What will happen to the new currency - only time will show.
Question 3. What other levers of promotion do developers have?
Unfortunately, in the modern world the success of the product and project still depends not only on its technical capabilities, but also on banal promotion and advertising. If the currency is actually admitted to the listed exchanges - it's wonderful, but it's still not a guarantee of global success. Acceptance of currency by exchangers, interest of large banks, positive responses from celebrities of the crypto-currency market (leaders of opinions), etc. - all this is also important. How strong the trump cards of this kind are with the GOD team - it is not yet clear.
