What Happens in 51% Attacks?

What Is Censorship Resistance?

What Is GPU Mining?

Why Nobody Can Hack a Blockchain

## What Is Bitcoin Gold (BTG)?

Bitcoin Gold was founded in 2017 to become a user-friendly alternative to [Bitcoin](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/). The BTG network aims to combine the security and sturdiness of the Bitcoin [blockchain](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/blockchain) and its characteristics with the opportunity for experimentation and development. 

BTG enhances and extends the crypto space with a blockchain closely compatible with Bitcoin but without using resources like Bitcoin hash power or vying for the "real Bitcoin" title. The company aims to present a coin with the implementation capabilities of Bitcoin, however, expanding on the opportunities for DeFi and DApp developers to use the coin. 


### Who Are the Founders of Bitcoin Gold?

Bitcoin Gold was founded by a group of enthusiasts with diverse backgrounds and skills. [Hang Yin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/hang-yin-167012a7/) is a co-founder and lead developer at Bitcoin Gold. He graduated with a degree in computer science from Fudan University in 2015. His professional career started right after he graduated. In late 2015, Yin became a software engineer for Google. After three years with the tech giant, Hang Yin decided to venture into entrepreneurship by starting Bitcoin Gold. In 2018, he also participated in the founding of HashForests. 

[Martin Kuvandzhiev](https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-kuvandzhiev-061615a2/) is the second co-founder of Bitcoin Gold, and he is also a board member at the company. He graduated with a degree in computer software engineering from the Technical University of Sofia, and his professional path started as a food service worker at McDonald’s. In 2015, he became an assistant professor at the Technical University of Sofia, and in 2016, he started a job as a lead iOS developer at phyre JSC. Since co-founding Bitcoin Gold in 2017, he has also launched another company called GoStartups.net. Currently, Kuvandzhiev is also the CEO of Assetify. 


#### What Makes Bitcoin Gold Unique?

Bitcoin Gold is a unique combination of the inherent properties of the original Bitcoin blockchain and an innovative approach to blockchain development and applications. As a hard fork of the original Bitcoin token, BTG aims to revolutionize the mining process by introducing a new proof-of-work algorithm that combats the scalability issues Bitcoin struggles with. 

As an open-source protocol, Bitcoin Gold allows developers to participate in the governance and development of the blockchain freely. According to the company, this is a must-have requirement for pushing decentralization and one of the major points where Bitcoin struggles. 

Bitcoin Gold is one of the first hard forks of the original cryptocurrency, which has attracted institutional and enterprise investors’ attention. BTG is available on a wide variety of exchanges, as well as swap services and wallets. Lastly, Bitcoin Gold has been actively adopted by several online browsers and service providers. 


#### Related Pages:

Read more about [SafeYield](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/safeyield/).

Find out more about [DCTDAO](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/dctdao/).

Learn more about [GPU mining](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-gpu-mining).

Have a look at the [CoinMarketCap blog](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/categories/blog).


#### How Many Bitcoin Gold (BTG) Coins Are There in Circulation?

Bitcoin Gold has a maximum supply of 21,000,000 BTG tokens and a total supply of 17,513,924 BTG tokens. The current circulating supply is equal to the total supply. 

Out of the total amount of BTG tokens, 30% went towards the development of the blockchain and the project. Another 15% were reserved for ecosystem support and development, and another 15% were distributed amongst the BTG community. About 20% of the total BTG token supply was reserved for yearly expenses. Close to 7% of BTG tokens were set aside for bounties and app collaboration, while another 5% went towards rewards for the founding team. The remaining 8% of tokens went towards covering pre-fork costs and community development.


### How Is the Bitcoin Gold Network Secured?

As a Bitcoin hard fork, Bitcoin Gold relies on the proof-of-work ([PoW](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/proof-of-work-pow)) consensus mechanism. However, one of BTG’s main goals was to revolutionize the mining process by introducing the Equihash PoW, which favors [GPUs](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/graphical-processing-unit-gpu) for mining, unlike the Bitcoin blockchain. 

While Bitcoin relies predominantly on application-specific integrated circuit ([ASIC](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/asic)) miners, This version of Equihash uses more memory than an ASIC can offer but runs fine on many graphics cards. Unlike the [Ethereum](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/) blockchain, which relies on the proof-of-stake ([PoS](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/proof-of-stake-pos)) mechanism and favors stakeholders, Bitcoin Gold places importance on the processing power miners have.

 


### Where Can You Buy Bitcoin Gold (BTG)?

As one of the first hard forks of Bitcoin, BTG is available on various exchanges. One choice is [Binance](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/binance/), but other good options include:



*   [Bithumb](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/bithumb/)
*   [Huobi Global](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/huobi-global/)
*   [Bitfinex](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/bitfinex/)

[Find more information here](https://coinmarketcap.com/how-to-buy-bitcoin/) about buying cryptos.


Bitcoin Gold

Ledger

Atomic wallet

Welcome to Bitcoin Gold's Community channel aggregated by CoinMarketCap.

Bitcoin SV (BSV) emerged following a hard fork of the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) blockchain in 2018, which had in turn forked from the BTC blockchain a year earlier following the blocksize wars.

BSV claims to fulfill the original vision of the Bitcoin protocol and design as described in Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper, early Bitcoin client software and known Satoshi writings. BSV aims to offer scalability and stability in line with the original description of Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, as well as deliver a distributed data network that can support enterprise-level advanced blockchain applications.

To this end, it has removed artificial block size limits and re-enabled Script commands and other technical capabilities which had been historically disabled or restricted by the protocol developers of the BTC blockchain. This purportedly allows the network to process tens of thousands of transactions per second while maintaining extremely low transaction fees for micropayments, in addition to offering advanced capabilities such as tokens, smart contracts, computation and other data use cases.

The BSV network claims to be unique in its capacity for unbounded on-chain scaling while also being more aligned with the original design of Bitcoin than any other blockchain.

Bitcoin SV

Ethereum Classic (ETC) is the original Ethereum (ETH) blockchain that launched in July 2015. Its main function is as a smart contract network, with the ability to host and support decentralized applications (DApps). Its native token is ETC.

Since its launch, Ethereum Classic has sought to differentiate itself from Ethereum, with the two networks’ technical roadmap diverging further and further from each other with time.

Ethereum Classic first set out to preserve the integrity of the existing Ethereum blockchain after a major hacking event led to the theft of 3.6 million ETH.

Ethereum Classic

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that aims to become sound global money with fast payments, micro fees, privacy and larger block size. As a permissionless, decentralized cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Cash requires no trusted third parties.

Bitcoin Cash was created as an alternative to the first and most valuable cryptocurrency — Bitcoin (BTC). In 2017, BCH developers modified the BTC code, releasing their software version and a full-fledged competitive product, which split Bitcoin into two blockchains: Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. Bitcoin Cash is a result of a hard fork in the blockchain due to differences in the community over Bitcoin scaling and the SegWit upgrade. Moreover, another hard fork, which divided Bitcoin Cash into two parts, Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV, took place in the fall of 2018.

The scaling debate involved two sides: small block supporters opposed increasing block size as it could lead to blockchain centralization and vulnerability by making it harder to host full nodes. Large block supporters, however, advocated for a faster solution, concerned that rising transaction fees could hinder growth.

Bitcoin Cash

Zcash is a decentralized cryptocurrency focused on privacy and anonymity. It uses the zk-SNARK zero-knowledge proof technology that allows nodes on the network to verify transactions without revealing any sensitive information about those transactions.

Contrary to a common misunderstanding, the majority of cryptocurrencies on the market, including Bitcoin (BTC), are not anonymous, but rather pseudonymous; while they do not explicitly reveal the identities of their users, each user has their own public address or addresses which can be traced back to them via the methods of data science and blockchain forensics.

Zcash transactions, on the other hand, still have to be relayed via a public blockchain, but unlike pseudonymous cryptocurrencies, ZEC transactions by default do not reveal the sending and receiving addresses or the amount being sent. There is an option, however, to reveal this data for the purposes of auditing or regulatory compliance.

Zcash was first released on October 28, 2016, and it was originally based on Bitcoin’s codebase.

Zcash

Dash is an open-source blockchain and cryptocurrency focused on offering a fast, cheap global payments network that is decentralized in nature. According to the project's white paper, Dash seeks to improve upon Bitcoin (BTC) by providing stronger privacy and faster transactions.

Dash, whose name comes from "digital cash," was launched in January 2014 as a fork of Litecoin (LTC). Since going live, Dash has grown to include features such as a two-tier network with incentivized nodes, including "masternodes," and decentralized project governance; InstantSend, which allows for instantly settled payments; ChainLocks, which makes the Dash blockchain instantly immutable; and PrivateSend, which offers additional optional privacy for transactions.

Dash

Decred is Money Evolved.

By combining battle tested Proof-of-Work with an innovative take on Proof-of-Stake that places coin holders in charge of shaping the future, Decred is able to adapt to challenges and innovate at a rapid pace. You acquire influence in Decred by putting “skin in the game”.

Decred’s security, privacy, scalability, and decentralized treasury empower stakeholders and provides them with the tools needed to enhance their financial sovereignty.

Decred

Qtum (pronounced ‘“quantum”)  is a proof-of-stake (PoS) smart contract open-source blockchain platform and value transfer protocol. It aims to bring together the strengths of Bitcoinand Ethereumin one chain. Qtum is built on Bitcoin's UTXO transaction model, with the added functionality of smart contract execution and DApps. Recently, the platform added support for DeFi applications. As of March 2021, there are more than 20 tokens created on the Qtum blockchain.

To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of Qtum.

The project was announced in March 2016 and held an ICO a year after, in March 2017, which brought its founders $15 million USD. The Qtum main chain was released on Sept.13, 2017. Initially, the Qtum coin was issued as a ETH-20 token, but with the launch of the mainnet, it was converted to native blockchain.

Qtum

NEM is a blockchain platform that was launched in March of 2015. It was one of the pioneers of the cryptocurrency industry, and sought to improve on the imperfections found on other chains at the time. It was one of the first non-turing complete chains to feature user-defined tokens (called mosaics), namespaces, multisignature accounts, and a P2P reputation system based on EigenTrust++. Its most notable contribution to the space is the proof-of-importance consensus mechanism, which sought to reward on-chain activity and deter the concentration of wealth commonly associated with proof-of-stake. Its client, NIS, is written in Java.

NEM has a global community. It sees the most utility as an alternative form of payment for businesses and vendors, and has a variety of social media apps built on top of it in Japan, such as nemgraph, a community-driven owned and operated alternative to Instagram.

In December 2021, NEM was hard forked by a pseudonymous team of cryptocurrency experts and enthusiasts alike. Titled Harlock, this hard fork signaled the community’s intent to take NEM from a shadow of its former self into the world’s leading payments platform for on-chain and off-chain media content.

Ravencoin is a digital peer-to-peer (P2P) network that aims to implement a use case specific blockchain, designed to efficiently handle one specific function: the transfer of assets from one party to another. Built on a fork of the Bitcoin code, Ravencoin was announced on Oct. 31, 2017 and released binaries for mining on Jan. 3, 2018 with what is called a fair launch: no premine, ICO or masternodes. It was named in reference to a TV show Game of Thrones.

Ravencoin

Monero was launched in 2014, and its goal is simple: to allow transactions to take place privately and with anonymity. Even though it’s commonly thought that BTC can conceal a person’s identity, it’s often easy to trace payments back to their original source because blockchains are transparent. On the other hand, XMR is designed to obscure senders and recipients alike through the use of advanced cryptography.

The team behind Monero say privacy and security are their biggest priorities, with ease of use and efficiency coming second. It aims to provide protection to all users — irrespective of how technologically competent they are.

Overall, XMR aims to allow payments to be made quickly and inexpensively without fear of censorship.

Monero

ZEN is the governance and utility token for Horizen, a zero-knowledge-enabled network of blockchains powered by the largest node infrastructure in the industry. Blockchain interoperability is enabled by the Zendoo protocol, which uses SNARK-verification and allows for complete flexibility in sidechain type, consensus, and speed. Cryptographic verification of networked chains offers massive scale, and the network currently supports up to 10,000 sidechains with a throughput limit of 10,000,000 TPS.

Zendoo makes Horizen a permissionless network of blockchains. Developers can deploy their blockchains within the ecosystem using a variety of SDKs. In 2023, the ecosystem team launched Horizen EON, a public proof-of-stake sidechain and an EVM-compatible smart contracting platform that allows developers to efficiently build and deploy dapps on the Horizen ecosystem, while benefiting from the Ethereum ecosystem. Since going live with Horizen EON, DeFi projects including SpookySwap, Ascent Exchange, and Yuzu have successfully integrated into the Horizen ecosystem. Get started on Horizen EON today!

Horizen's native cryptocurrency, ZEN, is a mineable PoW coin currently trading on major exchanges, including Coinbase and Binance. ZEN can be staked to participate in Horizen's nearly 50,000 full node network.

While ZEN was previously a privacy token, following ZenIP 42204 in June of 2023, the network removed its existing privacy features in favor of moving towards a vision of adaptability and responsible, scalable growth.

Horizen

Gnosis (GNO) builds decentralized infrastructure on Ethereum. Its mission has always been centered on experimentation and building decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem. When Gnosis was founded in 2015, it focused on building prediction markets to enable worldwide access to accurate information. While creating the prediction market platform, it became clear that Gnosis needed to build the infrastructure required to support it. Gnosis Safe, for example, was born of necessity.

Gnosis operates as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) which provides infrastructure for various types of decentralized applications (dApps), and builds products to transparently guide decisions on the development, support and governance of its ecosystem.

In November 2021, both the xDAI and GnosisDAO community voted to combine their vibrant ecosystems to create the Gnosis Chain: An Ethereum forerunner-companion that addresses scaling issues through solid engineering.

Gnosis

The EOS Network is an open-source blockchain platform that prioritizes high performance, flexibility, security, and developer experience. As a third-generation blockchain platform powered by the EOS virtual machine, EOS has an extensible WebAssembly engine for deterministic execution of near fee-less transactions.

EOS is the market's most scalable, divisible, and programmable digital currency. EOS is a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) network where stakeholders have the authority to select node operators. Due to the decentralized nature of the token distribution on EOS, power doesn't reside in the hands of block miners, but rather all parties involved in the EOS Network.

The EOS Network is attractive because of its technology and community. It allows developers to build projects that other blockchains cannot support. The network is straightforward and has multiple tools and educational resources to help users acclimate to the blockchain.

DigiByte (DGB) is an open source blockchain and asset creation platform. Development began in October 2013 and the genesis block of its DGB token was mined in January 2014 as a fork of Bitcoin (BTC).

A longstanding public blockchain and cryptocurrency, DigiByte uses five different algorithms to improve security, and originally aimed to improve on the Bitcoin blockchain’s security, capacity and transaction speed.

DigiByte consists of three layers: a smart contract “App Store,” a public ledger and the core protocol featuring nodes communicating to relay transactions.

DigiByte

UNUS SED LEO

Huobi Token (HT) is the native token of the cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Global. It is a decentralized digital asset based on the Ethereum blockchain and is ERC-20 compliant. HT’s value is in part reliant upon the reputation of the Huobi crypto exchange, yet other factors also have an impact.

To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of Huobi Token.

Huobi Token is a relatively young project. It first launched in January 2018, hot on the heels of the release of a native token on rival crypto exchange Binance. Having its own token allows Huobi to build a flexible marketing strategy in order to attract new users and further grow its platform.

One key function of the token is to reduce commissions for trading operations on the exchange, which are usually paid from users' wallets. Yet the token has much more to offer. Using HT, users can purchase monthly VIP-status plans to receive discounts on transaction fees. Token holders have the right to vote on exchange decisions, can receive crypto rewards for seasonal buybacks, and also get early access to special events. HT holders can, at any point, trade the token for other cryptocurrencies.

Huobi Token

Yearn.finance is an aggregator service for decentralized finance (DeFi) investors, using automation to allow them to maximize profits from yield farming.

Its goal is to simplify the ever-expanding DeFi space for investors who are not technically minded or who wish to interact in a less committal manner than serious traders.

Launched in February 2020, the service, formerly known as iEarn, has seen huge growth in recent months as new products debuted and developers released in-house token YFI.

yearn.finance

Waves is a multi-purpose blockchain platform which supports various use cases including decentralized applications (DApps) and smart contracts.

Launched in June 2016 following one of the cryptocurrency industry’s earliest initial coin offerings (ICO), Waves initially set out to improve on the first blockchain platforms by increasing speed, utility and user-friendliness.

The platform has undergone various changes and added new spin-off features to build on its original design.

Waves’ native token is WAVES, an uncapped supply token used for standard payments such as block rewards.

Waves

Siacoin (SC) is the native utility token of Sia, a blockchain-based distributed, decentralized cloud storage platform. Sia acts as a secure, trustless marketplace for cloud storage in which users can lease access to their unused storage space. Agreements and transactions are enforced with smart contracts, and Siacoin is the medium of exchange for paying for storage on the network. The main goal of the project is to become the "backbone storage layer of the internet."

Sia was originally announced in May 2014 before being revised and re-announced a year later in May 2015. It officially launched in June 2015.