Network Upgrade: Testnet Today, Mainnet Next
Mandatory Network Upgrade
Bitcoin Gold is in the process of a mandatory Network Upgrade. Executing this upgrade requires a hard fork, but we anticipate a smooth upgrade with no chain splits (and no new coins created.)
We have successfully Upgraded the Testnet via hard fork. Our Partners and we are proceeding to finalize the necessary upgrades to related software and preparing for the upcoming Mainnet upgrade.
Our target for the Mainnet Upgrade is block height 536200, which should hit sometime around July 1st, and is subject to change based on feedback from critical Partners in the Ecosystem.
Technical Changes:
- Implement new PoW: Equihash-BTG
- “Equihash-BTG” is Equihash<144,5> with BTG-specific Personalization
- (Old PoW was “Equihash,” which is Equihash<200,9> with generic implementation)
- See https://bitcoingold.org/equihash-btg/ for more detail.
2. Deliver improved Difficulty Adjustment Algorithm
- New DAA is LWMA with optimized parameters
- (Old DAA was Digishield v3 with inferior parameters)
Goals:
- ASIC resistance
- Equihash-BTG is dramatically more ASIC-resistant than the generic Equihash, rendering the recently-available Equihash ASICs ineffective for mining BTG
- Equihash-BTG will probably make future ASIC designs non-competitive for a significant period of time
2. Safety
- PoW & personalization changes create BTG-specific hashpower, and therefore a new “hashpower market segment” specific to BTG
- BTG will be the dominant coin in the Equihash-BTG hashpower market, increasing security against 51% attacks
- Although we expect Equihash-BTG rental markets to emerge quickly, they will be more transparent because there is only one practical use for Equihash-BTG hashpower. This means easier monitoring for potentially malicious activity.
3. Consistency and Regularity
- New DAA (Difficulty Adjustment Algorithm) delivers much better responsiveness to hashpower shifts (which happen due to changing market prices and hashpower market dynamics)
- This will smooth out block times, reducing the incidence of “fast” and “slow” periods
- Will also increase average profitability for “steady miners” of BTG
Mining Software and Pools
The first few Equihash-BTG capable miners for NVidia cards are already available, and we expect AMD-based miners to be available soon. We will begin maintaining a list of known compatible mining software and expected mining pool availability on the Forum as details become publicly available from the 3rd parties who make and maintain them.
In Closing
We’re very happy with the cooperation we’re getting from many of our Partners in the Ecosystem, but also from the community of Equihash-based coin teams with which we’ve been collaborating these past weeks. We know some wish this Upgrade could be delivered sooner, but coordinating with all our Partners and ensuring the mining infrastructure is ready are crucial to minimize disruption — and, of course, critical for safety.
We look forward to sharing many additional details in the next few days!
Improving every day,
The Bitcoin Gold Organization
#1CPU1VOTE
This content is also posted on our Project Website as well as on our Discourse Forum.