Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin Diamond, Bitcoin Classic — what’s the difference?
Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency, and from a technical standpoint it is outdated, because it has a number of disadvantages related to the volume of data, transaction speed and scaling. Therefore, developers have created hard forks that change the rules of the protocol and the structure of blocks. Bitcoin holders received hard fork coins based on the number of bitcoins in their wallets: usually on a 1:1 basis. Let’s describe each cryptocurrency in detail and conduct a comparative analysis with bitcoin.
Bitcoin Cash
It is the first and the most famous bitcoin hard fork, which appeared on August 1, 2017. Bitcoin Cash occupies the 5th position in CoinMarketCap crypto rating by capitalization. Hard Fork has many supporters in the bitcoin community who believe that it will replace the first cryptocurrency.
In the Bitcoin Cash blockchain, the block size was increased from 1 to 8 MB, which allowed more transactions to be placed in the block and, consequently, to lower the fees.
Bitcoin Gold
Launched on October 24, 2017. The idea of Bitcoin Gold is based on the protocol decentralization, which aims to prevent the dominance of large miners in the market. Equihash is used instead of the SHA-256 algorithm. The project still exists, but has not become widely known.
Bitcoin Diamond
Launched on November 24, 2017. A notable feature of this hard fork is that the creators increased the issue volume tenfold, increased the speed of transactions and reduced fees. Holders of 1 bitcoin received 10 BCD coins. In technical terms, it corresponds to its slogan “the best Bitcoin”. The project, like most hard forks, was not particularly popular, but growing still.
Bitcoin Classic
The second hard fork launched on the same day as Bitcoin Cash. The algorithm was based on the EDA mechanism, which allows to protect miners from hashrate fluctuations. Since November 2017, the project is inactive, despite the support of large companies such as Coinbase, Circle and Bitstamp. Even Roger Ver, a well-known bitcoin investor, supported the project.
All of these hardforks, except Bitcoin Classic, are traded on a well-known Binance exchange. BCH is available on almost all exchanges where Bitcoin is traded. And for convenience of trade use the Trade-mate.io service. With it you can trade on multiple exchanges in a single terminal and use a trailing mechanisms to increase profit. In addition to Binance, BitMEX and Poloniex exchanges are available as well.