A new fork on the Bitcoin network will occur on the 25th of December and the new chain, called Bitcoin God, will be formed. The Chinese investor, Chandler Guo, explained that he wanted the new fork to be symbolic, as if he was giving candy away to all bitcoin holders.
There have been reports of numerous forks on the Bitcoin network in the recent months. These forks have been called Bitcoin Lightning, Diamond, Rubies, and an array of other names. Bitcoin God will the latest addition to the array of Bitcoin offshoots and will start trading by the symbol of “God” on cryptocurrency exchanges.
Bitcoin God will basically be a new Bitcoin snapshot, which means that the new chain will share the exact same history as the parent chain. However, after the selected block number of 501,225, the new chain will have its own distinct transactions. The new chain will be mined separately and can have new characteristics.
Guo explained, via Twitter:
“Bitcoin God (GOD) will be forked off the main bitcoin chain at the block height of 501225, which will happen on December 25th to be symbolic of me giving candy to all bitcoin holders — The total amount will be 21 million — No pre-mine,”
Initially, the crypto community thought that Guo was joking. Many Twitter followers raised that question. However, Guo clarified that the fork was real, and he had tweeted by the new token before.
The doubt in people’s mind is rational, as there have been numerous Bitcoin forks in the recent past. What do these new forks stand for? How legitimate are they? If it is so easy to fork Bitcoin and form a new chain, then would it reduce the uniqueness of the cryptocurrency?
All these questions are valid and are asked by every cryptocurrency investor. Some of these new impending forks will be scams and investors should be wary about investing in new offshoots of Bitcoin.
Also, one has to consider, how serious are the new fork developers? If the team behind the new fork is not focused on improving the legacy system, then that does not align with the purpose of forking. The technique of forking was developed to make changes in the blockchain in order to improve its efficiency.
Bitcoin forks, such as Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold, have achieved substantial success. However, the success of these new forks, including Bitcoin God, cannot be guaranteed.