What Is Bitcoin Gold (BTG)?
Bitcoin Gold (BTG) is a cryptocurrency that was created following a hard fork of Bitcoin in 2017. It’s a community-led, open-source project that was created to implement a new proof of work (PoW) algorithm to help enhance the independence of Bitcoin’s ecosystem by making mining decentralized again.
For Bitcoin, miners need expensive ASIC equipment to confirm blocks on the Bitcoin network, which concentrates the mining power within a few large entities.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin Gold enables ASIC-resistant mining with Equihash PoW, which favors graphics processing units (GPUs) that are readily and widely available to individual miners.
Bitcoin Gold also features BTGPay, which facilitates fast cross-border payments using BTG based on a code tested and proven by Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Gold Price
Bitcoin Gold's price was highly bullish following the hard fork in November 2017, hitting a series of highs in November and December. From $138.69 on November 8, 2017, it rapidly shot to $433.66 on November 11, corrected sharply a few days later to $123.93 on November 16, then spiked again to hit $396.00 on November 24, 2017.
The coin remained bullish in December, hitting its highest price to date of $456.25. Thereafter, the price declined sharply and broke below the $100 level at the beginning of February 2018. The price continued to drop for most of 2018 and 2019, especially after a 51% attack on its platform in May 2018.
In late January 2020, the Bitcoin Gold platform once again fell victim to another 51% attack which instantly drove its price down from $15.02 in mid-January to below $10 by January 24, 2020. BTG’s price then stagnated between $5 and $9 during those months, but began to pump at the beginning of 2021, rising from $8.79 on January 5, 2021 to hit a high of $139.63 on May 7, 2021. Soon after, the price declined gradually. BTG has continued to drop for most of 2022, falling to below $20 by October 2022.
What Is Bitcoin Gold (BTG) Used For?
Bitcoin Gold uses a similar architecture as Bitcoin, in which transactions are confirmed by miners and recorded on the blockchain. The use cases for Bitcoin Gold include:
Facilitating quick and seamless international payments
Paying for goods and services at selected merchants around the globe
Paying network fees on the Bitcoin Gold network
Rewarding miners for validating transactions
As a store of value
Bitcoin Gold Tokenomics
Like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Gold has a total supply of 21 million coins. Sixty percent of the total supply was time-locked after the hard fork, and was released at the rate of 20% per year. Of these funds, half are for development, and the remaining half are shared equally between the ecosystem and the community.
In addition, 40% of the total supply was allocated as follows:
7% — Bounties and app collaboration
5% — Pre-fork costs
3% — Community development
5% — Initial reward for the core team
20% — Yearly expenses
Who Is the Founder of Bitcoin Gold?
Bitcoin Gold was created by six co-founders — h4x3rotab (Lead Developer), Martin Kuvandzhiev (Operations Lead), Franco Niebles (Lead Designer), Alejandro Regojo, Robert Kuhne and Jack Liao.
Read more: Bitcoin Gold (BTG): Affordable Blockchain Mining
How to Store Bitcoin Gold (BTG)
Recommended wallets for storing Bitcoin Gold include BTG Core Wallet and ElectrumG. In addition, many other wallets are compatible with BTG, including Exodus, Guarda Wallet, Atomic Wallet and Coinomi. You can also store BTG in offline wallets, such as Trezor and Ledger.
Where to Buy Bitcoin Gold (BTG)
You can buy BTG from any top crypto exchange, including Bybit. On Bybit, you can trade BTG as a USDT Spot pair (BTG/USDT).