The thought of Bitcoin conjures images of dark-web drug dealers and other digital bad behaviors.
Now some developers of the digital currency are trying to take it beyond its specialist niche and into the financial mainstream, and not everyone is happy about it.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, almost like the digital equivalent of cash, according to the news site CoinDesk. You keep coins in a wallet just as you would cash. The biggest difference is most Bitcoin wallets are free, and Bitcoin isn’t tied to any country, only the internet.
In the years since its initial upload, Bitcoin has exploded. Its value skyrocketed to more than one thousand dollars a pop in 2013 and swiftly fell by hundreds of dollars shortly afterwards. Though its value may not be what it used to be, its popularity has continued to rise.
This rise has brought the developers of the system to a fork in the road.
Some developers wish to expand the system so it can truly compete with other online payment systems like Visa and PayPal, a project they call Bitcoin Classic. Others prefer to keep it the way it is, the original Bitcoin Core. According to the Verge, these two sides could leave the company split in two.
The key difference between Bitcoin Classic and the original Bitcoin Core is the size of what developers call blocks — the bits of code that keep the system running.
These blocks store information about every transaction that occurs in the Bitcoin system. Bigger blocks mean the Bitcoin network can handle more transactions faster – exactly what it needs to compete with the mainstream.
The problem with bigger blocks is all the data can’t be processed by the rag-tag team of home computers, or nodes, that keep the system decentralized. Bitcoin Classic, with its bigger blocks, will require more computing power from a few very powerful nodes, which, in essence, would centralize the system.
The debate to increase the block size or not has shaken Bitcoin to its core. Just last month, a high-profile developer left the project and called it a failure, driving a massive drop in Bitcoin value and an exodus of other developers, wrote Joel Hruska of ExetremeTech.
People wonder what will happen to Bitcoin if the two warring development teams cannot come to a resolution. Both have valid arguments, try to justify them further with cryptic texts from Bitcoin’s developer, as if they were the words of God, and refuse to seek a compromise.
With the recent release of Bitcoin Classic’s code to increase the block size, many are beginning to speculate Bitcoin might split and become two distinct systems, one high-powered for mainstream use, and another small and decentralized.
Right now is a make-it-or-break-it moment for Bitcoin. The success, failure or split of Bitcoin could set the stage for the future of online money.
