Some professional bitcointers are now forcing a virtual currency split. What are the reasons and consequences?
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What's going on there?
Fork means that when a software project is split into two or more follow-on projects, Hard Fork, if the new version of the software is not downward compatible with the old one. The bitcoincode is today such a hardtip. A part of those miners that form the bitcoin network and produce new bitcoins through a complex calculation process can and will probably change to another software which basically corresponds to the previous one, but contains some crucial changes in the code ,
If the plan is actually implemented, there will henceforth be two separate bitcoin blockchains: the previous bitcoin blockchain and the new bitcoin cash blockchain. The term refers to the decentralized, forgery-proof database, in which all the bit-code transactions that have ever been performed are listed . Whilst a large majority of users have already decided in advance to designate Bitcoin as Bitcoin and to give it to the new version Bitcoin Cash the status of an oldcoin, which is one of many alternative cryptos.
Bitcoins
HOW CAN I USE BITCOINS?
WHERE CAN I GET BITCOINS?
WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS?
A client must be installed on the computer, a program for managing the currency. For example, Multibit , Electrum, or Armory . They are also available for Android and Apple smartphones . To open an account, it does not need any personal information.
The program creates a file called wallet , the wallet. It also creates a public key and a secret key. The public key serves as an address and looks as follows: 1EQodj2MkD6iL5X4MZ7Pc6kWMArF7moW6E. It gives the user like a Kontonummer the one with which he acts or from which he wants to receive Bitcoins. Multiple bitcoin addresses can be managed in one wallet . Each transaction is then visible in the so-called blockchain . Since only the addresses, but no other data are displayed, the blockchain is largely anonymous.
The secret key is better known only to the user. With it it is in the Bitcoin network. The secret key is needed to send bitcoins. This is just as easy as online banking. If the secret key is checked, the account can be cleared. If you want to use bitcoins, you must therefore deal with the safe keeping and use of such keys. Bitcoin is just one of many cryptoscripts. Alternatives like Litecoin , Peercoin or Dogecoin work similarly.
What is the difference between the two currencies?
The previous bitcoincode has a kind of bottle neck, the block size. A block is the block of the block, it contains all or part of the most recent bitcoin transactions. The entire blockchain therefore contains all transactions ever executed. The Bitcoinwiki compares a block with the side of a land register .
A block of the classic bitcoinblockchain is currently one megabyte in size. However, because more and more transactions are to be written to the blockchain due to the increasing popularity and popularity of Bitcoin, transaction costs are rising and the whole process can be delayed. This can lead to someone having to pay for Bitcoin, but they must either charge high transaction costs or wait more than 24 hours before the process is written to the blockchain. This is not practical. Larger blocks can alleviate the problem - and Bitcoin Cash is to get a block size of eight megabytes.
Probably also in August gets also the old bitcoincode an update called SegWit2x. This includes a doubling of the block size to two megabytes, but also the introduction of transactions outside the blockchain. How this works and what benefits this would have is explained here .
Whether this together with the other changes is the better way to make bitcoin future-proof is a question of faith in the Bitcoincommunity . So to speak, the Judean National Front against the People's Front of Judea , only with Blockchain.
Was there something like this before?
Splitting is not an unusual process. The Bitcoin code has been used hundreds of times and has produced lots of oldcoins. Especially in this case is not only the possibly great support for Bitcoin Cash, but also the imminent duplication of all Bitcoingutabens.
Because the Bitcoin-Cash-Blockchain does not start at zero, it is based on the current Bitcoinblockchain, it assumes the status quo of the previous Bitcoinblockchain as its own output value and thus the distribution of Bitcoins as it is currently.
What does this mean for Bitcoinbesitzer?
Each Bitcoin address, which has bitcoins on the original Bitcoinblockchain as of 1 August, will then have exactly the same amount on the Bitcoin Cash Blockchain. Or, to put it simply: If you have Bitcoins, you get the same amount of Bitcoin Cash through the Fork.
Whether their value develops as fast as that of classic bitcoins, however, is anything but certain. First of all, this depends on how many previous bitcoin miners go to generating Bitcoin Cash instead. If you own Bitcoin with a value of 100 euros and with the split also Bitcoin Cash gets, can not assume that the 100 euros are worth or it will ever be.
Now, however, this "own bitcoin" is the critical point anyway. Only those who have control of the private keys to a wallet actually own the bitcoins. Whoever has only one Bitcoinguthaben with a Bitcoinbörse, may have had bad luck. The well-known stock exchange Coinbase, for example, categorically rejects the support of Bitcoin Cash. If you still have your credit today, you will definitely not get a Bitcoin Cash.
Some stock exchanges had announced in advance that they would temporarily suspend deposits and withdrawals around the cut-off date of the potential split in order to protect the beneficiary's assets from possible distortions, attacks and other loss scenarios.
Bitcoin owners should therefore review the opinions of each vendor with a credit balance or software to use their bitcoins: wallets, exchanges, marketplaces, payment providers. The respective positions on the fork differ in part clearly.