$ 0 to $ 2,900 – and apparently everywhere in between.
Bitcoin gold A new fork of bitcoin software, may not have been officially launched (or distributed to users), but it does not prevent markets cryptocurrency to seek to determine its potential value (or taking advantage of its possible existence).
In an interesting turn on a typical distribution, a number of exchanges now indicate a token which represents a claim on the future delivery of the gold bitcoin (before that it is available to all bitcoin users). Before this event, however, traders seek to evaluate the asset, which offers an alternative to the challenge of competing for rewards on the bitcoin mining network.
Still, it is safe to say that there is disagreement up to now.
In an interview, analysts expressed a reservation about the bitcoin gold, both talking about its team of developers, and characterizing the potential market opportunity of the protocol.
Safiri Felix, a researcher at the financial publisher Empiricus, thinks for example that if bitcoin gold is likely to encourage others to clone the bitcoin blockchain, and so capitalize on the ability to appeal to its user base, he sees this trajectory limited.
Felix tells CoinDesk:
"I think the forks and paratroopers are a trend to launch new chips [will continue] aimed at getting an instant user base. scenario is, gold bitcoin is a potential competitor for litecoin. "
Indeed, most of the industry observers surveyed do not expect the project to compete with bitcoins or bitcoins, predicting that its market capitalization would likely be similar to that of networks of lesser value.
This belief seems to be reflected in trade, where BTG tokens traded at $ 2,900 on Bitfinex before falling by 96.64% in $ 97 Tuesday. On Wednesday, prices stabilized around $ 137 at press time although order books are heavy with sell orders in available markets.
At current prices, the value of any bitcoin gold (once released) would represent only 43% of BCH and 2% of BTC. As such, it seems unlikely to exceed the value of these currencies in the immediate future.
Similarly, the interest of exchange also seems moderate. Currently, only a handful of exchanges, Bitfinex, HitBTC, Yobit, Bleutrade, Bitstar and Coinnest, support the BTG / BTC and BTG / USD trading pairs.
Concerns for Developers
Of course, the biggest question for the interviewees was whether the chips would actually be provided by those behind the project.
Already controversial is that the team behind Bitcoin Gold intends to set aside a certain amount of cryptocurrency to fund its future development, as part of what's called a "pre-mine". Indeed, Safiri quickly noted that the bitcoin gold team had no history in the sector.
"I is natural to reject their ability to deliver a quality code," he said.
Charlie Shrem, a long-time industrial entrepreneur and director of business and community at Jaxx, a cryptocurrency wallet provider, also cited the decision to set aside suspect funds, even if they do not denote any mischief.
"[It] seems to be an attempt to replicate bitcoin money and give developers a good first quality," he said.
Overall, his remarks have brought out the idea that the low price of gold bitcoin compared to bitcoin and bitcoin might reflect the possibility that funds are coming in. never really.
Long-term potential
As to what it means for those who plan to manage their assets, it should be noted that such market changes are common when it comes to determining the prices of a new asset. active.
For example, bitcoin cash (BCH) – which paid bitcoin in August – was trading for highs of nearly $ 1,000 before falling to trade between $ 300 and $ 400 in his first month. Similarly, in points, zcash has traded millions of dollars per chip (although this is due to problems with its distribution).
But, that's still the question of the ultimate value proposition of the protocol that seems most relevant.
Shrem went so far as to predict that his possible bitcoin gold could inspire cryptocurrency enthusiasts to begin securing the protocol with older mining equipment, and that this could eventually revive the creation of value, which may lead to utility.
He noted that, although older GPUs could be used to exploit ether – the ethereum network's cryptocurrency – this would mean a reduction in the chances of rewards given its current competition.
Of course, others were more outright disdainful. Tim Enneking, general manager of hedge fund Crypto Asset Management, believes that gold bitcoin proves that fork currencies will likely have diminishing returns from now on.
Enneking concluded:
"It's like an ICO, but with a length in advance."
Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which owns an interest in Zcash Company, the for-profit entity that develops the zcash protocol.
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