Bitcoin Gold

Bitcoin Gold
Ticker symbol	BTG
Development
Initial release	0.15.0.1 / 12 November 2017 (14 months ago) (2017-11-12)
Latest release	0.15.0.2 / 6 January 2018 (13 months ago) (2018-01-06)
Code repository	github.com/BTCGPU/BTCGPU
Development status	Active
Forked from	Bitcoin
Written in	C++, Qt
Operating system	Windows, OS X, Linux
Developer(s)	Bitcoin Gold Organization
Source model	Open source
License	MIT License
Website	bitcoingold.org
Ledger
Ledger start	3 January 2009 (10 years ago) (2009-01-03)
Timestamping scheme	Proof-of-work
Hash function	Equihash
Block reward	12.5 BTG (approximately to mid 2020), halved approximately every four years
Block time	10 minutes
Block explorer	BitcoinGold Explorer BTG EXPLORER BTGexp.com
Supply limit	21,000,000 BTG

Bitcoin Gold is a distributed digital currency. It is a hard fork of Bitcoin, the open source cryptocurrency. The stated purpose of the hard fork is to restore the mining functionality with common Graphics Processing Units (GPU), in place of mining with specialized ASIC (customized chipsets), used to mine Bitcoin.^[1]

ASIC resistant GPU powered mining provides a solution, as this kind of hardware is ubiquitous, and anyone can start mining with a standard, off-the-shelf laptop computer.

Bitcoin Gold was hit by double-spending attack on May 18, 2018.^[2]

History[edit]

Bitcoin Gold hard forked from the Bitcoin blockchain on October 24, 2017, at block height 491407.^[3] Soon after the launch, the website came under a distributed denial of service attack, and received criticism from Coinbase and Bittrex for being hastily put together, as well as including a developer pre-mine.^[4][5]

May 2018 attack[edit]

In May 2018, Bitcoin Gold was hit by a 51% hashing attack by an unknown actor. This type of attack makes it possible to manipulate the blockchain ledger on which transactions are recorded, and to spend the same digital coins more than once.^[6] During the attack, 388,000 BTG (worth approximately $18 million USD) was stolen from several cryptocurrency exchanges.^[7] Bitcoin Gold was later delisted from Bittrex, after the team refused to help pay some of the damages.^[8]

References[edit]