Bitcoin Diamond Review | Really a Diamond?
What Does Bitcoin Diamond Do That Bitcoin Doesn't? Or It's Just Another Useless Fork in the Road? Let's find out here.
Ah, 2018, the "Year of the Fork". Bitcoin was forked more than most others during the end of last year (2017) and the beginning of this year (2018). Some of those forks turned out to be extremely useful; some not so much.
But, What Is A Fork?
A cryptocurrency core code contains instructions known as its protocol. The protocol tells the coins how to transfer from wallet to wallet, what fees to charge for those transactions, to whom to pay those fees and how to record the transaction into the block that is transferring it. All in all, it is pretty complex programming. And, it has to be if for no other reason than to make our cryptocurrencies safe.
A fork is when a cryptocurrency's core code is modified. A "soft fork" is when something relatively minor is changed—most of those passes by without any of us real-world users even noticing. However, occasionally a programmer (or usually a group of programmers) gets an idea that requires a major change to the core code. This doesn't erase the original coin. In fact, it doesn't alter it in any way. There is simply a split in the blockchain where a completely new coin is born. This split is known as a fork (as in "fork in the road").
Since its inception in 2009, Bitcoin's core code has been forked several times. Bitcoin Cash is the most famous of those forks. Many of us use BCH today regularly. One of the most recent forks to the Bitcoin core was Bitcoin Diamond.
What Does Bitcoin Diamond Do That Bitcoin Doesn't?
The Bitcoin Diamond creators were a couple of Bitcoin miners known only as Evey and 007. Those are pretty obscure pseudonyms. Then again, none of us in the cryptosphere know who Satoshi Nakamoto is either; but we all use Bitcoin daily.
Anyway, Evey and 007 worked with the Bitcoin core and wanted to eliminate those "issues" with Bitcoin that we talk about so often. In particular, they wanted to make the coin itself more secure, increase transaction times, lower transaction fees and make Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) more accessible to everyone.
So, it seems as if Evey and 007 share the Satoshi Vision with such lofty goals. But did they do it?
When redesigning the Bitcoin core protocol for this fork, they increased the total supply of coins from 21,000,000 to 210,000,000. This tenfold increase was designed to keep prices lower through the sheer logic of supply and demand law. So far, at the current cost of $1.28/BCD, this plan seems to be working out quite well. This low cost most definitely gives many more people access to ownership of entire coins than the $6,500/BTC price of Bitcoin.
Evey and 007 left the block processing time at 10 minutes to increase transaction times and lower transaction fees. However, they increased the size of each block. So, instead of a 1 MB block size being sent at a time like Bitcoin does; Bitcoin Diamond processes 8 MB transactions in each block. This speeds up the time; and spreads out the transaction fees and keeps everything fast and affordable.
Sure, It Sounds Good...
There is an old saying in the United States; "if it sounds too good to be true it probably is".
While Bitcoin Diamond certainly sounds good, we are unsure if it's "true or not". We here at CryptoDetail love our cryptocurrencies to be sure. However, this fork has not really proven itself to us yet. With a little over $1,000,000 in daily transactions, it is clear that someone somewhere is using BCD. We just have not met any of them yet. Unlike daily volumes for other numbers, we have to remember that forks are different in this regard.
When coins like Litecoin are created, no one owns it until they purchase it or trade. However, when a fork occurs, everyone holding the original coin receives a bit of the new forked coin. With the Bitcoin Diamond fork, anyone who held Bitcoin received 10 BCD for each BTC in their wallet at the fork. So, there is quite a bit of BCD floating around out there. A lot of which is surely those daily transactions as some of the BTC holders are still trying to liquidate what they see as irrelevant.
However, there are some supporters of this coin. In fact, we are surely more than a few BCD supporters will let us know they are out there when this article is posted.
Regardless of that incoming controversy (everyone in the cryptosphere loves their favourites) we here at CryptoDetail are still watching and waiting to see if this coin achieves its full potential. We love the idealism and conformance to the Satoshi Vision, but we just have not seen enough action from this particular fork to be impressed yet. We will then withhold our stamp of approval and recommendation from Bitcoin Diamond a bit longer because we are not sure if this coin is truly a diamond in the rough or just another useless fork.
Oh, and if you are one of those BCD supporters we mentioned earlier, drop us a note. We want to hear your first-hand opinions of this coin and how you see the fork as a whole.
DISCLAIMER
Nothing in the above article is intended or presented as "financial advice". Before buying any coin or token, or before making any financial decisions, you can do your own due diligence. Then, once you are well informed, it is up to you to discuss your situation and strategy with a reputable, local, crypto-friendly CPA to protect yourself and your money to the fullest extent possible in such ventures. Anything you have read here is merely our assessment and opinion from the facts we have uncovered through our own research.
Thanks for joining us for this exploration! Good luck on your own crypto journey!! Happy HODLing!!!
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