Bitcoin (EXANTE: Bitcoin) was trading down 4.42% Wednesday morning after the blockchain network underpinned the coin split again, giving birth to a new digital currency called Bitcoin Gold (BTG), Business Insider reported.
The new cryptocurrency is a clone of the original Bitcoin blockchain, but will play by different rules.
"Instead of scaling Bitcoin to support more users, Bitcoin Gold tweaks Bitcoin in an effort to 'make Bitcoin decentralized again,'" cryptocurrency watcher CoinDesk reported.
"This, proponents argue, will make the network, designed to offer an egalitarian way to send payments digitally around the globe, more accessible to users."
Twenty exchanges will back the new cryptocurrency, meaning traders who own Bitcoin on certain exchanges will now hold one Bitcoin gold for every Bitcoin. Owners should not expect, however, to see the value of their holdings double.
With Bitcoin Cash (EXANTE: Bitcoin.Cash) separating from Bitcoin earlier this year and another fork possibly on the horizon, the cryptocurrency community appears divided over whether splits are good for the future of Bitcoin.
Bob Summerwill, a chief blockchain developer at Sweetbridge, a cryptocurrency liquidity provider, said that there is no such thing as a ‘bad fork.’ Others are less optimistic on splits.
Sol Lederer, a blockchain director at LOOMIA, said: “Instead of coming to agreement, the community, developers, and code are fracturing into different groups.”