What is Bitcoin Diamond (Bitcoin Diamond) in simple words

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2019-09-06 00:00:00:

Bitcoin at one time was the most popular digital currency (you can read in detail about the Bitcoin cryptocurrency at this link). But he, like any other, showed his shortcomings. Transactions with it take a very long time and become very expensive. This is due to the limited size of Bitcoin blocks (up to 1 MB), which means that only about 3 operations per second can be performed. Users involuntarily begin to think about switching to another cryptocurrency. And therefore, a hard fork of Bitcoin is inevitable - a necessary fork in the Blockchain network in case of delays in updating nodes and checking blocks. In other words, there is a usual change in the electronic currency protocol, due to which those operations or blocks in the system that were previously considered unacceptable become acceptable. A hard fork is essentially a branch of a new digital currency. In our article we will tell you about the next Bitcoin fork -Bitcoin Diamond , consider the history of its appearance, how it works, disadvantages and advantages.

What is Bitcoin Diamond

Bitcoin Diamond is a Bitcoin fork designed to improve network privacy and reduce transaction costs. In this digital currency, block sizes have been replaced as well as the development algorithm. Bitcoin Diamond hard fork became possible due to the efforts of 2 teams: 007 and EVEY, dissatisfied with the properties of "electronic gold". Its purpose is exactly the same as that of BTC. It is a means of payment, very convenient for online payments, serving as an excellent substitute for fiat money. BCD differs from the basic version of Bitcoin in that it fixes some very important issues. At the very beginning of its existence, Bitcoin Diamond did not have its own GitHub page. Nevertheless, the developers promised that very soon the code will be posted there. Until that time, until the release took place, futures for new electronic money were not added on any of the crypto exchanges.

The history of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin Diamond

Now that you know what Bitcoin Diamond is, lets move on to acquaintance with the history of the emergence of this cryptocurrency. On the official website of the OKEx exchange on November 22, 2017, visitors could see a message about the upcoming inclusion of BCD in the listing of the trading platform. In addition, it was announced that new crypto-coins were credited to users on the corresponding wallets in which BTC was previously stored. The branch from the main chain occurred on November 24, 2017 (after block 495866 in the BTC blockchain). This is where the history of Bitcoin Diamond began. This project was headed by 3 developers, about which users know nothing but nicknames. And then - only two of them, since the third wished to remain confidential. The developers wanted to improve Bitcoin and expand its capabilities so that the cryptocurrency became even more popular and could be widely used by consumers.

In the same fall, November 25, 2017, trading using this newly created digital currency began to be held on the same OKEx crypto exchange. In parallel with these events, on the AEX trading floor on the same days, the price of BCD rose to 0.014 BTC (which was at that time about 110 US dollars). Towards the end of 2017, the most important thing happened - the main network was updated. In 2019, BCD Pay, an international trading platform, opened. Here all services and products could be bought and sold with Bitcoin or BCD. Along with this, an application of the same name was launched, which allows you to make personal transfers, online purchases, and subscribe to newsletters.

The BCD roadmap that was created by the developers:

Q2 2018 - Use of advanced encryption algorithms to help address privacy concerns in Bitcoin transactions;
first quarter of 2019 - release of the application "BCD - ecology" of its own design;
first quarter of 2020 - according to analysts forecasts, Bitcoin Diamond will surpass classic Bitcoin in all respects.

There was no more accurate data regarding the prospects for this crypto coin. In addition, nothing was known about the time of the final completion of work on Bitcoin Diamond.

Distinctive features

The creators of the new digital coin proposed using a special improved mining algorithm, denoted by the symbols X13, designed for mining cryptocurrency using the GPU. Bitcoin Diamond managed to add support for SegWit, as well as build in replay protection. This e-currency uses a combined PoS / PoW consensus mechanism .

The Bitcoin Diamond cryptocurrency is characterized by the following distinctive features:

created to correct the deficiencies found in Bitcoin;
increased volume of tokens, which reaches the amount of 210 million coins;
Bitcoin Diamond was not planned to be used for trading;
characterized by increased sizes of one block - 8 Megabytes;
the number of BCD crypto coins exceeds the amount of BTC ten times;
the size of the full blockchain is about 140 Gigabytes;
characterized by increased confidentiality;
has an optimized algorithm;
mining difficulty is recalculated every two weeks;
Bitcoin Diamond uses a new encryption algorithm for crypto wallets, as well as the names of their holders.

Bitcoin Diamond miners need to form blocks according to an optimized proof of work algorithm (Optimized X13). The mechanism of its operation is as follows: on the network, each result is hashed thirteen times. In the case of a single compromised hash result in a loop, nothing terrible will happen. Fraudsters to hack will have to find a vulnerability in 13 hashes in one cycle. If we talk about scaling, according to the promises of the project developers, it can be called more scalable than its older brother. Due to high scalability, network performance increases, and accordingly, commission fees are significantly reduced.

It was planned that the project should gradually develop and improve the privacy and security of accounts, taking as a basis the original functions of Bitcoin. Such innovative functions cause a branching of the chain: the work of the primary blockchain remains unchanged, at the same time, the newly developed chain solves some of the issues in a different way. The history of BCD and BTC transactions was the same, up to the generation of a unique block after the hard fork.

How BCD works

BIP44 is the standard that makes the deterministic wallet an extremely important tool, and Bitcoin Diamond adheres to it. If this standard is applied, the wallet owner simply needs to save his own private key, and also use a secret phrase (“seed” value) to generate a large number of associated addresses, which will also be tied to your wallet. As a result, you only need a backup of "masterprivatekey" / "masterseed". But if the user cannot remember the secret phrase, automatically loses access to all available funds. It should be noted that it is not recommended to store the secret phrase in electronic form, since in this case it is an easy prey for hackers.

The information block of the Bitcoin blockchain combines information about signatures, as well as about the transactions performed. It follows that very few transactions are placed in one block. With the transition to Segwit, it becomes possible to improve the structure of operations and blocks. At the same time, signatures from transactions are forced out into an independent structure. In other words, in Bitcoin Diamond, the block sizes are increased just to increase the network bandwidth.

Bitcoin Diamond advantages and disadvantages

This relatively young fork has both advantages and disadvantages. We have already familiarized ourselves with them in part in the previous sections. We can say that the advantages of this digital currency are consonant with the tasks that it is designed to solve. So, lets list them in order:

there was an increase in the volume of one digital block up to 8 megabytes;
low commissions for transactions have become a reality;
due to the fact that additional encryption of the transaction amount is applied, as well as the existing balance of the users account, the confidentiality within the network has increased;
the speed of transactions has increased markedly.

Thanks to the listed advantages, the crypto coin has every chance of becoming, over time, a very popular crypto asset.

Disadvantages of Bitcoin Diamond:

Today, it is extremely difficult to talk about them, since the creators of BCD tried to get rid of the shortcomings of the predecessor cryptocurrency - Bitcoin. They aimed to develop a truly innovative digital payment instrument. However, it may well be that over time, the new network will also have weak points.

A kind of disadvantage of Bitcoin Diamond is that the crypto community does not receive any unusual technological solutions and creative ideas from this site. In fact, this cryptocurrency offers users a functionality very similar to Bitcoin, in which only some of the disadvantages characteristic of BTC are eliminated. In addition, it should be remembered that any similar digital crypto asset can be a payment instrument. In this regard, some experts are of the opinion that the electronic currency BCD has absolutely normal functionality.

Does Bitcoin Diamond mining exist?

As conceived by the developers, this digital currency is designed for GPU mining . It is adapted for the use of video cards. Thanks to this approach, the decentralization of the crypto coin is increased , its mining at home is simplified. It takes 10 minutes to generate a block, the amount of reward is 125 tokens (you can learn more about tokens here ). You can get BCD both independently and by joining the pool. To mine diamond bitcoins, you need the following equipment:

the most powerful and new video card. For example, BTG Nvidia GTX 1060, as well as 1070 or 1080 for 6 Gigabytes can be a good solution;
Windows operating system (any of the existing ones, starting from the seventh version);
a sufficiently capacious hard drive that can ensure the functioning of the operating system. In addition, it must have a certain amount of additional space that will be required for the caches;
RAM, the volume of which must be 4 GB or more;
other equipment used to combine the necessary devices.

In addition, before starting BCD mining, you will need to download a special mining program; you may also need to update the driver on the video adapter. The latest version is required. After preliminary preparation, you can start producing fresh coins. The whole process can be represented as several stages:

preparatory, already discussed by us earlier. Installation of equipment and necessary software is in progress;
registration of a crypto wallet. To do this, you can download a special program or use an online wallet. Subsequently, those coins that can be mined will be transferred to it;
pool selection. As we have already said, it is quite possible to be engaged in the production of digital currency independently. If you need to connect to the pool, you need to know that Nibiru Pool, Minergate, 4miner, and a number of others are engaged in the production of this crypto coin;
setting up the script file. To get started, you need to edit the config. It should be noted that its name can be different in different programs. Editing consists in specifying the name, pool, and wallet Nº;

Thats all, now you can start mining the diamond bitcoin. However, it must be borne in mind that, if until recently mining could bring a solid profit, today this method cannot be called very profitable, because not only the complexity of mining has increased, but also the cost of electricity. In order not to work for yourself at a loss, it is better to calculate in advance the profitability of mining.

How to buy or sell Bitcoin Diamond?

You can sell the received crypto coins using any of the exchanges listed on the cryptocurrency home page. BCD purchases can also be made on these crypto exchanges. Immediately, we note that our article is not a direct guide to action, but is only informative. Therefore, before starting to make transactions with Bitcoin Diamond, it is better to personally consult with specialists.

You can buy this cryptocurrency on many cryptocurrency exchanges, including such popular ones as:

Binance (the most famous Chinese exchange, popular for its high liquidity, as well as a multilingual support service);
Gate.io;
Exrates.me;
OKEx;
Kucoin;
Huobi.pro (a Russian crypto exchange where you can exchange Bitcoin Diamond for any other crypto, as well as buy cryptocurrencies for RUB and USD).

To buy a BCD, you need to follow these steps:

Register your account on any crypto exchange that works with this digital currency. You can find one where Bitcoin Diamond is represented in one or more currency pairs. After comparing several platforms, choose the one that best suits your requirements. After that, you should proceed to registering an account.

There are some exchanges that only ask for an email address and password. However, when registering for many others, a username, citizenship, contact information is requested. In addition, identification documents are required. Only in this case it will be possible to start trading. Additionally, you can protect your funds if you enable two-factor authentication.

Deposit Bitcoin Diamond into your account. It is not yet possible to directly purchase it for fiat money, so first you need to buy those digital coins that have a currency pair with BCD. This could be BTC, for example. If you want to fund your account with a certain amount of Bitcoins, just copy the address of your exchange wallet to the clipboard. After that, go to the crypto wallet that contains your BTC, find the "Recipient" field and paste this address into it.
Then you need to go to the selected crypto exchange again and go to the "Markets" or " Exchange " section. Then look for a suitable currency pair (depending on which crypto you funded your account with) and indicate the number of Bitcoin Diamond coins that you want to purchase. Before that, you need to pay attention to the proposed cost of Bitcoin Diamond, check all the details of the operation, incl. - the price in general.

If you are interested in selling diamond bitcoin, you will need to perform actions similar to those listed in paragraph 3, but select the "Sell BCD" item. You also need to check all the details of the transaction, and only then confirm it. It must be remembered that not all digital coins are paired with Bitcoin Diamond, and therefore a situation is possible in which the exchange you are interested in cannot be immediately carried out.

Bitcoin Diamond rate to ruble

As of August 29, 2019, the Bitcoin Diamond rate to the ruble is 42.82 RUR per 1 BCD. Over the past day, it has decreased by 4.44%.

Bitcoin Diamond rate to dollar

The Bitcoin Diamond rate against the dollar, according to data from the website https://coinmarketcap.com, as of August 29, 2019, was 0.64 USD per 1 BCD. During the day, the exchange rate fell by 4.44%.

Bitcoin Diamond rate to Euro

As of August 29, 2019, there is a 4.4% decrease in the BCD to EURO exchange rate. The rate is 0.578 EUR for 1 BCD. Information taken from the site https://coinmarketcap.com.

If you look at the market chart of this digital currency since its inception, you can clearly see 2 periods with completely different trends.

From November 2017 to March 2018, the significant volatility of the diamond bitcoin was characteristic, the price changed in leaps and bounds. The price of the coin at the very beginning of the auction was at around 61 US dollars. The next day, it reached its all-time high of $ 105 per coin. The incredible excitement in the crypto community led to such a jump in prices. This hard fork was quite promising and users were looking forward to it. They started buying BCD immediately after it appeared on the crypto market. A significant part of the miners wanted to partially transfer the capacities they had to a separate chain. It also boosted investor interest.

Nevertheless, the growth was observed for a rather short time. Already during December, it fell to $ 40, and in January of the following year it fell to $ 27. Then he fell two more times. From time to time, there were rises in value (this was facilitated by the presentation of the software, the launch of the mainnet, listing on the leading crypto-exchanges), but it also quickly declined again.

If you look at the market chart of this time, you can immediately notice the constant alternation of falling and rising in value. Thanks to this, traders who played in short-term positions were able to make good money. However, in March the situation changed dramatically - the price dropped to only $ 3. The BCD has entered a period of a long downtrend.

from April 2018 until August 2019, you can observe the damping dynamics of the change in value. A downward trend is clearly visible. The BCD price indicators were affected by the general decline in 2018. Almost all year round, there were fluctuations in the exchange rate around 1 USD. Very rarely, the price went up to 2 USD. In addition, even the previously growing capitalization also began to fall (you can find out about the capitalization of cryptocurrencies here ). As of April, its indicator was in the range of 1 billion USD; by June, the indicator had decreased three times.

This year, 2019, as the cryptocurrency market exited a prolonged bearish trend, the quotes of this cryptocurrency did not begin to grow. By August of this year, the cost was within USD 0.7, and the capitalization was USD 134 million.

Where to store Bitcoin Diamond

Your BCDs dont have to be translated somewhere right away. If you plan to make further transactions with these coins, you can store Bitcoin Diamond in a wallet on the crypto exchange. However, in doing so, your funds may be exposed to threats from fraudsters. Also, you will not be able to manage your private keys. In other words, cryptocurrency wallets cannot be called an ideal place for long-term storage of cryptocurrency.

Experienced users always transfer cryptocoins to other wallets open outside of trading platforms. Today there are a lot of such electronic storages. To choose what is right for you, you should first read its description and see that it works with diamond bitcoin. These wallets are:

BitGo;
Bitpie;

QoinPro;
QT Wallet (for Linux, Windows, MacOS);
Mobi;
Electrum Wallet (Linux, Windows, MacOS + Android);
Kcash;
QoinPro;
Atoken.

The most current list of available crypto wallets can be seen on the official website of this electronic currency.

How many coins of this cryptocurrency are there?

The maximum emission of Bitcoin Diamond was 210 million cryptocoins, which is ten times the emission in the original network. Those users who had bitcoins in their accounts received new coins for free immediately after the hard fork. At the same time, they were charged in a ratio of 1:10. In total, 80% of all issued coins were spent on this. The rest (20%) is available for mining or purchase.

Bitcoin Diamond emission

The creators of Bitcoin Diamond have substantiated how much Bitcoin Diamond they issued and why such a large volume was needed. In their opinion, the cost of a crypto-coin with a larger emission will be relatively low, which means that it will be possible to easily use it for everyday transactions.

According to experts of the Analytical Agency Weiss, this reason does not fully reflect reality. It is common for all electronic currencies to be repeatedly shared, and the transactions with their participation are also digital in nature. And therefore, those PCs that process these transactions do not take into account the cost that is set for 1 crypto coin.

In addition, the creators of the diamond bitcoin announced that due to the increased emission, the crypto coin will become more widely used. According to them, if the cost is low, users will prefer to actively make transactions with BCD, rather than store currency in crypto wallets. As a result, this factor will cause an increase in Bitcoin Diamond deflation.

Analysts cannot agree with this statement. They believe that both assets have a limited supply, and therefore deflation is inevitable for them. However, if we talk about BTC, its insignificant emission makes users want not to use coins for transactions, but keep them on the balance for a longer time. And therefore, for such an asset, an increase in value in the future is quite expected. As practice shows, this is what actually happens. And therefore, leading analysts do not doubt that Bitcoin is a kind of reserve cryptocurrency in the world of electronic money.

What is secured by Bitcoin Diamond

From a technical point of view, Bitcoin Diamond is one of the very few successful Bitcoin hardforks. Its creators managed to calmly, without fuss, quarrels with other firms, develop and start using improved protocols, increase the block size, launch a convenient mobile application and their own retail network. BTC holders are usually suspicious of any forks of this crypto coin. In fact, most users saw these forks as a legitimate way of expressing dissatisfaction with the classic Bitcoin rules from which they were able to split. And therefore, the assumption that Bitcoin Diamond is a scam is false.

The creators of BCD, despite all their efforts, could not do without flaws. Among the most important are the following:

failure to comply with the roadmap (we discussed it in the previous sections). Its main points were fulfilled with a great delay. Some of the promised updates have not yet been implemented in reality. And therefore it is quite natural that the plans of the creators of BCD "to be in the list of the most popular cryptocurrencies in 2020" experts consider absolutely unattainable;
technical development team. Although it includes good specialists, they are unknown to the general public. It cannot be said about them that they are reliable partners who have a long track record and are trusted by users. Some of them still prefer to remain incognito. However, all this does not make them more authoritative in the eyes of the crypto community;
over-hyped privacy. Of course, if we talk about the security of personal information, the new network is better than the original one. However, it turned out to be very easy to get information about someones balance or the amount of a certain transaction;
disagreement with Ledger in 2017. It was then that the management of this company issued a statement about a planned phishing attack aimed at their customers. Letters containing links to strange web resources began to arrive at the addresses of the owners of electronic wallets. After navigating through them, users were asked to name their secret keys. Ledger officials identified 007 and Evey as suspects in the attack. And although their involvement was not officially established, the aftertaste remained after all this, and rather unpleasant. This was also facilitated by news in the media, which spoke about a planned scam (do you know what SCAM is? );
sluggish dynamics. Traders are alarmed that the value of Bitcoin diamonds has not started to rise, despite the general rise in the crypto market. A significant part of them are thinking about how to stop working with such an "unreliable" asset.

The future of Bitcoin diamond

Initially, users had high hopes for Bitcoin Diamant. The crypto coin, to the delight of traders, showed significant volatility. If we consider 2019, there is a stable decaying dynamics. This happens on all crypto-exchanges: the cost of coins from the day of listing is slowly and gradually falling. If you look at the rate since the start of trading until today, you can see that it has fallen dozens of times. This is due to the fact that users do not trust the project enough and are afraid to invest in it. And therefore, deciding to invest in Bitcoin Diamant, they do it with great caution.

In addition, a number of experts speak of the insufficient relevance of this project. If you compare Bitcoin Diamond with other existing projects offering smart contracts, different applications and platforms, improved infrastructure, it becomes clear that diamond bitcoin is an outdated model of the first generation electronic currency.

To invest in such a project, you need to closely follow all the news and changes that are taking place. If there is information about the signing of partnership agreements, the use of new technologies, we can say that the project will bring short-term (and in some cases - even long-term) profit.

Dont be upset - some experts believe the situation is not all bad. In their opinion, if you understand the features of price dynamics, you can predict the upcoming growth in the value of this cryptocurrency. Its specificity is that the cost, having changed dramatically, then remains stable for a very long time. Only after a long period, during which it does not change, the price of the coin follows the new trend.

According to analysts, the stabilization of the price after a sharp jump just means that the currency is reliable. If we compare BCD with other digital assets, we can note its lower volatility, but at the same time - more objective growth factors. In other words, if there are sufficient reasons to rise, the price of BCD will rise and the rise will continue, although not as fast as traders would like.

The same experts, when asked whether Bitcoin Diamond has a future, answer - yes! They say that all the prerequisites for growth are there. Quite a long time ago, work began on the creation of Quant Trader. It is a crypto-tracker powered by artificial intelligence. Quant Trader will be able to select the most attractive coins for investment, set up orders, and issue them automatically on the Binance crypto exchange. There is only one caveat - the tracker will be added to the BCD Pay application. All this should increase the interest of users in the trading platform, application, as well as the project itself, which is behind it. Such a decision can significantly increase the quotes. And although today the price of BCD is minimal, analysts give quite rosy forecasts for the next year. According to even the most pessimistic, the Bitcoin Diamond rate will rise to 2-3 USD. If you look at the optimistic ones, they say about the growth of the rate to 10 USD.

Differences between Bitcoin Diamond and Bitcoin

First, lets answer the question - how much more technologically advanced is BCD mining, if we compare it with BTC mining? We have already written that the original BTC with a block size of one megabyte processes no more than 3-4 operations per second, while an eight megabyte BCD block functions 5 times faster. Of course, such an achievement in the industry is not the best, however, thanks to it, the network bandwidth has grown 5 times. In this case, users no longer have to transfer significant amounts of commission to miners in order to increase the prestige of the operation and speed up its processing.

Also, making a direct comparison of Bitcoin Diamond and classic BTC, it can be noted that BCD owners are better protected from disclosing personal data. It is also worth noting its own hashing algorithm, which Bitcoin Diamond switched to. At the same time, mining of coins is not available for ASIC devices.

All this, according to the creators of BCD, allows this cryptocurrency to become the leader in the digital currency market . However, they are far from the first developers to voice such far-reaching plans.