BCD coin is an altcoin that promises to enhance transaction speed and throughput for cryptocurrency traders so it can offer lower transaction fees, more convenient mining, and increased safety of private data. The unknown developers of Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) projected it as a hard fork of Bitcoin (BTC), using the original cryptocurrency as a foundation for their innovative ideas. Their main goal for this global currency was to provide an upgraded alternative to BTC.
That’s how a new Bitcoin Diamond algorithm replaced the hashing SHA-256 method used in Bitcoin. The new, improved Bitcoin protocol nowadays functions as the Bitcoin Diamond (BCD).
Who Is the Originator of the Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) Cryptocurrency Project?
The initiative for creating an improved version of Bitcoin comes from an alleged Bitcoin scalability debate between two BTC teams of miners who had an excellent insight into the flow of the Bitcoin blockchain. These anonymous Bitcoin Diamond teams of creators go by the pseudonyms Team Evey and Team 007, following in the footsteps of Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. The creators of BCD promised a more accessible and cost-effective mining method that would reinforce the digital currency’s decentralized nature.
Bitcoin Diamond was introduced to the cryptocurrency world on November 24, 2017, as a fork in Bitcoin’s source code. On this date, when the 495,866th block of encrypted transaction data was added to the Bitcoin blockchain, Bitcoin Diamond officially became the new Bitcoin fork. Consequently, everyone who had BTC (Bitcoin) in possession prior to the launch of the Bitcoin Diamond fork received 10 BCD for each BTC on their account.
How Does Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) Function?
As previously stated, Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) is a Bitcoin fork. Its main characteristics include scalability, graphics card mining, and lower costs of transactions. The Bitcoin Diamond network also supports payment apps. More significantly, BCD forks result in quicker transactions, reduced transaction costs, and a lower entry barrier.
To understand how BCD functions in-depth, we’ll need to first define the forking concept in cryptocurrencies.
What Are Forks in Cryptocurrencies?
The term ‘fork’ used in a cryptocurrency context refers to the change made in the blockchain protocol. This change typically occurs as the result of a disagreement between the developers or the crypto community of a particular project regarding how that crypto project should develop in the future or how they should solve a blockchain issue. Generally, there are two ways in which the blockchain can be forked: accidentally and intentionally.
Accidental Forks
When miners solve the same encrypted transaction block at almost the same time, that’s when accidental forks occur. This type of blockchain fork is a minor change that is usually corrected in a relatively quick manner. After the miners add more blocks to the chain, one of the accidental forks quickly becomes longer, which makes the shorter one scraped from the blockchain.
Intentional Forks
When there’s a clash of ideas among the developers and they simply cannot find common ground regarding the development of the software, they intentionally fork the blockchain. In this way, they are able to continue developing their own respective crypto project or improving the existing one.
Because this form of blockchain forking results in new algorithms, developers use it to establish a new digital currency that can exist alongside the ‘parent’ coin. This is the case with the Bitcoin Diamond fork.
When the changes made to the blockchains are minor and do not alter the existing protocol immensely, they are labeled as soft forks. More often than not, these changes can be optional. On the other hand, if the blockchain changes forced by the developers or the blockchain community are more significant and not in agreement with the preceding versions of the software, these forks are referred to as hard forks.
As the hard forks are more permanent changes, all blockchain users are required to do the upgrade in order to avoid a chainsplit that could further lead to new forks.
What Are the Main Differences Between Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) and Bitcoin (BTC)?
While BCD and BTC share many similarities in both blockchain architecture and function, Bitcoin Diamond’s block size limitations are far larger than those of Bitcoin, and this is one of the biggest distinctions between the two.
Namely, as Bitcoin Diamond was projected as an alternative to Bitcoin that aims at solving Bitcoin’s scalability issue, Bitcoin Diamond facilitates 8MB blocks instead of Bitcoins 1MB blocks of encrypted transaction data for the blockchain. The increased block size capacitates a much bigger trading volume, which also contributes to the speed of the validation process.
Unlike Bitcoin, Bitcoin Diamond does not utilize the SHA-256 hashing protocol. Instead, BCD borrows the X-13 algorithm from the Bitcoin transaction blockchain adapted for use on GPUs. This new Proof of Work algorithm enables Bitcoin miners to create new blocks on the digital currency’s blockchain from the comfort of their own homes and by using graphics processing units (GPUs) rather than expensive specialist cryptocurrency mining equipment. In fact, general processing units are the preferred mining hardware for Bitcoin Diamond miners.
Furthermore, BCD mining may be performed by utilizing a GPU instead of ASICs. This results in a greater degree of integration of the coin and new users into the BCD ecosystem, since crypto miners now have access to additional mining hardware.
For a newbie in BCD mining, joining a Bitcoin Diamond mining pool is always a good idea. Not only does the pool of miners serve as excellent support for new miners, but the more experienced miners can also help you with the setup of your mining equipment and provide you with invaluable advice by sharing their personal mining experience.
Is There a Supply Limit of the BCD Coins?
Similar to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Diamond also has a limited supply of coins. However, in the case of the BCD, the supply of coins is 10 times larger than the supply of BTC. More precisely, the Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) cryptocurrency has a total supply of 210,000,000 BCD coins, as well as 186,492,898 BCD coins in circulating supply.
Where and How to Buy Bitcoin Diamond (BCD)?
If you want to invest in Bitcoin Diamond (BCD), it’s good to know that this cryptocurrency can be bought with fiat currencies, like USD, IDR, and KRW. It would be highly convenient if you also have BTC, USDT or ETH prepared for this financial undertaking.
The following is a list of some of the crypto exchanges that list Bitcoin Diamond as a means of trade, along with the BCD price per exchange expressed in USD:
- Binance / $ 2.65
- OKEx / $ 2.66
- HitBTC / $ 2.66
- Huobi Global / $ 2.65
- KuCoin / $ 2.64
Out of all these cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance has the highest trading volume of Bitcoin Diamond (BCD), with 83 percent of trade liquidity.
The BCD buying process starts with your registration at one of the exchanges that list Bitcoin Diamond. Next, you need to deposit funds to your newly opened account. Depending on the cryptocurrency exchange of your choice, you may be required to have Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) available, since not all of them support BCD for fiat exchange.
To avoid losing your private key, most cryptocurrency owners advocate storing BCD in a more secure wallet.
A Few Words Before You Go…
Along with Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), Bitcoin Interest (BCI), and Bitcoin Private (BTCP), Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) is nowadays considered one of the top 5 Bitcoin forks with the largest market cap. Having such a powerful cryptocurrency as Bitcoin as its predecessor, it wasn’t exactly easy for Bitcoin Diamond’s developers to get the attention of crypto investors.
But, since they were well familiar with Bitcoin’s advantages and disadvantages, they had a clear vision of how they could upgrade the blockchain in order to facilitate a faster transaction process whilst maintaining the privacy of the users, the security of the transactions, and low transaction fees, and enabling an easier (and more cost-effective) mining process by bringing back the GPUs to the game.
