Author: Milko TV
Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency in terms of mass appeal as well as market capitalization. BTC is the cryptocurrency that just about anyone that goes into cryptocurrency trading or investing buys due to its vast popularity and appeal.
However, since the creation of cryptocurrencies, many alternative options have been created, and one such option is Bitcoin Gold.
Bitcoin Gold is essentially a fork of Bitcoin that was created with the direct goal in mind to improve decentralization and efficiency, where it introduced a new hashing algorithm and made it far easier to mine cryptocurrencies.
Today, we are going to go over just about everything you need to know surrounding Bitcoin and Bitcoin Gold to see which option is a better fit for payments in the form of crypto. By the end of this guide you will know what is Bitcoin gold, and how you can accept bitcoin payments .
Key points:
- Bitcoin is a decentralized cryptocurrency that was originally described in 2008 and launched in 2009, where it took the world by storm and became the number one cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization and popularity.
- Bitcoin Gold, on the other hand, was founded in 2017 as a user-friendly alternative to Bitcoin and aimed to combine the security and sturdiness of the Bitcoin blockchain as well as its characteristics.
- Both of these cryptocurrencies have their own place within the crypto sphere and feature their own fan bases and communities.
- You can easily implement Bitcoin payment solutions to your own business by utilizing the payments solution NOWPayments.
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is the very first cryptocurrency to appear on the market that saw a high level of success, and ever since its release, it has managed to create a global community and has essentially pioneered the entire industry filled with millions of enthusiasts that create, invest in and trade cryptocurrencies in their everyday lives.
It was created by an anonymous person or group of people that went by the name Satoshi Nakamoto, and Bitcoin is essentially a decentralized cryptocurrency that works through a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, which means that all of the transactions happen directly between equal, independent participants within the network without any requirement for an intermediary to permit or facilitate them.
The network is secured by the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism, where miners essentially compete against one another to secure the network, after which they are rewarded in the form of the Bitcoin (BTC) cryptocurrency.
What is Bitcoin Gold?
Bitcoin Gold (BTG) is essentially a hard fork of Bitcoin, which was created in November of 2017. A hard fork happens at the point in time when a blockchain splits in two after a radical protocol change. This means that a token cannot exist on the previous blockchain due to the fact that it is incompatible with the previous blocks, so it needs to create its own unique blockchain.
Bitcoin Gold serves as a currency that offers a platform for cryptocurrency improvements, research, and transactions and has been primarily utilized as a settlement for goods and services, as an investment accessible on digital asset marketplaces, and as an enabler of independent payment mechanisms such as other cryptocurrencies.
Its ecosystem is driven by the Equihash Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm, and this is utilized to link block outputs to the memory available for storage.
The difference between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Gold
Both Bitcoin and Bitcoin Gold use a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism. However, Bitcoin Gold’s algorithm is known as Eqihash and does not disproportionately favor major mining operations on specialized equipment.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, has the SHA-256 hashing algorithm, which is used to define the hash value and makes things a bit more challenging for miners. Smaller miners are at a disadvantage when it comes to the computing power that they can produce.
| Blockchain | Bitcoin | Bitcoin Gold |
| Year Created: | Conceptualized in 2008 and launched in 2009 | The fork occurred in October of 2017. |
| Mining Algorithm: | SHA-256 | Equihash |
| Native Cryptocurrency: | BTC | BTG |
| Usage | Bitcoin can be traded for goods or services with any vendor that accepts Bitcoin as a payment and is primarily utilized as a store of value. | Bitcoin Gold is used for applications such as smart contracts, open-source bridges, and payments. |
Which Bitcoin is better as a payment tool?
Bitcoin Gold (BTG) is far more accessible to miners due to the fact that it utilizes a mining algorithm that is easier to manage from the perspective of miners. This means that BTG can enable quicker and cheaper transactions.
However, Bitcoin (BTC) is far more popular in terms of mass adoption, and just about every cryptocurrency enthusiasts have BTC in their cryptocurrency wallets, which makes it a far more available and used cryptocurrency.
Here, we can conclude that each cryptocurrency has its own role within the crypto space, and both of them have their own advantages and disadvantages when used as a payment tool. Preferably, a business should enable support for both.
How to accept Bitcoin and Bitcoin Gold payments?
NOWPayments is a solution that offers numerous advantages as well as tools. It is non-custodial and has multi-currency support, as well as custom solutions.
Specifically, there are plugins that are compatible with various eCommerce platforms, such as WooCommerce and Shopify, and there is also a Proof-of-Sale terminal that enables brick-and-mortar stores to issue invoices. NOWPayments is also a flexible service and can develop custom solutions for any business.
NOWPayments lets you accept over 150 cryptocurrencies from anywhere in the world, withdraw FIAT directly to your bank account, and gives you access to 24/7 support and a personal account manager.
If you want to accept Bitcoin (BTC) or Bitcoin Gold (BTG) payments, here is what you need to do:
- Navigate to the official NOWPayments website.
- Provide your cryptocurrency address to which you want to receive the cryptocurrencies.
- Generate your API key.
- Navigate to the Settings tab, after which you will be able to pick your preferred tool for receiving cryptocurrency payments, where you can select BTC or BTG. Remember that you can check out the list of available options here.
Through this service, you can enable a Bitcoin payment button, while NOWPayments will be the Bitcoin payment processor. This is how to accept Bitcoin payments, or utilize a BTC payment gateway.
Conclusion
Hopefully, now you know everything there is to know surrounding the main differences between Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Gold (BTG), and as a direct result of this information can make a well-educated and well-informed decision as to which option is more suitable for your specific business.
Each of these cryptocurrencies plays a crucial role within the crypto space, and both of them are heavily utilized and traded by cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
The biggest businesses out there will typically support both cryptocurrencies, as each one of them has its own pros and cons, and NOWPayments is a solution that can assist you in achieving this goal and accept any BTC or BTG payment.