Pros & Cons of Bitcoin Gold

By Sumedha Bose

Have you ever caught yourself wondering if Bitcoin Gold is a good investment to make in 2018 but felt like you did not have enough information on the crypto to actually make an informed decision?

The hard fork of Bitcoin in 2017 led to the emergence of Bitcoin Gold which has quickly become a popular crypto in the industry. Developed with a vision to attain the highest level of decentralization, BTG was quickly picked up to be listed by most cryptocurrency exchanges.

But is it worth the hype, and does it actually improve on the faults of Bitcoin? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of BTG below:

Pros of BTG:

1. Well to begin with, BTG has been repurposed to allow GPU (graphics processing unit) mining, which is not allowed in case of Bitcoin. Since GPU mining is computationally easier, it makes it possible for more people to mine BTG, thereby increasing its decentralization.
2. BTG does not require expensive, enterprise-quality mining equipment, thereby giving more people a chance to mine the crypto and making it more decentralized, as opposed to being a monopoly of few industrial-grade mining operations.
3. Since it is a fork of BTC, if you held BTC during the time of the split, you ideally own an equal amount of BTG right now.
4. In the past, there have been fights over ‘Satoshi Vision’ and what it actually is. BTG proudly claims that it adheres closely to Satoshi’s Vision and it has achieved a lot in a short time, owing to its several associations with wallets and exchanges.

Cons of BTG:

1. One of the biggest lacunas of BTG is the scandal that it got involved in very early on. The pre-mining of thousands of BTG by the team members of the crypto since Sept. 28th, made the team appear malicious and incompetent.
2. The team’s back and forth statements on whether they were going to be mining BTG or not has made them appear indecisive and reduced them to a ridicule in the community. The community did not receive this breach of trust well.
3. They delayed their release of the source code adding to allegations of them being sketchy and not transparent enough.

Conclusion

Well considering both sides of the coin, the cryptocurrency definitely has shown potential. It is one of the easiest cryptos to mine in the cryptosphere and it has also steadily risen up the charts. All things considered, it might just have a bright future ahead but it is too early to call it a replacement of BTC.