Crypto-Community Grows Skeptical of Bitcoin Forks

Over the past couple of months, there’s been a “forking fever” taking place as many people have decided to create their own form of the original Bitcoin protocol. A few weeks ago we reported on the ‘Bitcoin God’ snapshot-clone started by the well-known Chinese investor Chandler Guo. Now another snapshot fork is due to happen on December 28 at block height 501,451 called Segwit2x. With so many snapshot-clones being created out of thin air many cryptocurrency enthusiasts are getting leery towards these projects and are even calling them downright “scams.”

Also read: South Korea Clarifies Position After Reports of Possible Ban on All Crypto Transactions

Another BTC Snapshot Plans to Launch on December 28

Supposedly on December 28 a new form of bitcoin will join the long list of BTC blockchain clones created this year. The latest so-called ‘fork’ will be dubbed “Segwit2x,” after the project that failed to reach consensus this past November. Unlike the vast quantities of clone projects that don’t even have a codebase, the new Segwit2x project does have available code on Github for review. The Segwit2x clone plans to make some significant changes to the legacy codebase such as using the X11 algorithm, a high block generation rate, a Unique address format, and it will increase the block size to 4MB.

Satoshi Labs CTO: ‘No Trezor Support for Segwit2x’

Alongside this, the project promises replay attack protection will be implemented. The founder of the new Segwit2x bitcoin clone is Jaap Terlouw, a developer based out of the Netherlands. The Segwit2x infrastructure is slim with only five exchanges supporting the token, two wallets, and three mining pools. The Segwit2x project has a variety of social media accounts and forum domains as well. The cryptocurrency community is very skeptical of this token, and many people consider it “shady” like a good number of snapshots born this year. The project is discussed quite a bit on the Reddit forum /r/bitcoinscamcoins. Even the co-founder and CTO of Satoshi Labs says the new Segwit2X fork is a “scam” stating on the Trezor subreddit:   

No support for this scam.

Cryptocurrency Proponents View Bitcoin God As Unholy

Another project that was allegedly born on Christmas day is the Bitcoin God snapshot created by Chandler Guo. The Chinese investor has been tweeting out pictures of the snapshot to his 10,000 followers over the course of the past week. However, Bitcoin God is also listed as a scam coin on Reddit forum mentioned above, and cryptocurrency enthusiasts do not seem to trust this project, even with Guo behind the operation. For instance, one sketchy issue revealed on December 27 was a phishing site claiming to be tied to the Bitcoin God project has been trying to steal people’s private keys. Additionally, the Trezor co-founder also believes the Bitcoin God project is a “scam.”     

“God is a scam, and we don’t support it — They list Trezor and other brands without authorization and any reason,” explains Satoshi Lab’s Pavol Rusnak.

Crypto-Enthusiasts Think BTC Snapshots Look Tacky Like a Polaroid Picture

Many people are starting to see that a large portion of these snapshots do not have any infrastructure support or a working network. Basically, a snapshot is a replica of the bitcoin blockchain prior to the block height scheduled by the development team. The blockchain is not much different than a Polaroid copy, but there are alternative features added like algorithm changes and block size adjustments. Lately, there’s been a vast amount of snapshots: Diamond, Platinum, United, Lightning, Ruby, God, and more. Most all of them have been deemed ‘shady’ by the community for a multitude of reasons. Tomorrow there will be one more added to the list in 2017 with the birth of Segwit2x.

What do you think about all of these forks taking place this year? Let us know in the comments below.

Disclaimer: Bitcoin.com does not support these snapshots, forks and the project’s associated products & services. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the mentioned company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Never reveal your private keys online to unknown sources.

Images via Shutterstock, Pixabay, the SW2X website, and Bitcoin God’s Twitter. 

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