We have seen multiple Bitcoin forks and clones over the past few months. Such a situation is not sustainable in the long run, nor does it help the cryptocurrency ecosystem. It seems the newest hard fork to watch out for will go by the name of Bitcoin Uranium, aptly abbreviated as BUM. It is another clone of Bitcoin very few people will give a crap about, but it’s still a free airdrop to Bitcoin owners.
Bitcoin Uranium Will be a Real Thing
Myriad forms of Bitcoin have been and will continue to be created. Not all of these will be successful, though, as most of the creations are money grabs and nothing else. The jury is still out on whether or not Bitcoin Gold will stick around long enough to become useful, and most other coins with Bitcoin in their names can be all but forgotten about. Bitcoin Cash is the lone exception so far, despite massive opposition from the Bitcoin community.
There isn’t too much that makes Bitcoin Uranium unique or exciting either. It has the new proof-of-work algorithm we have come to know as Equihash. Pretty much all hard forks of Bitcoin utilize this algorithm right now, as it is always easier to copy existing code than to create something new entirely. At the same time, Equihash is ASIC-resistant, which is a logical feature for a project claiming to be a better Bitcoin.
Moreover, the BUM block rewards will be halved every 450 days and the total supply will be 21 million. It is good to see Bitcoin’s supply of 21 million be maintained, as some other airdrops will gladly increase this number. Bitcoin Uranium will seemingly be around long enough to undergo at least one halving, though there are no guarantees.
Additionally, network blocks will be generated one minute apart. One of the drawbacks of Bitcoin is that it takes at least ten minutes to get a network confirmation. That is a very annoying aspect of the world’s leading cryptocurrency, and many altcoins have tried to improve upon it. One minute block times may be a bit too short, but they should help keep network fees down, which can only be considered a good thing.
Another of Bitcoin Uranium’s selling points is anonymous addresses, which is another thing Bitcoin itself lacks. Then again, there are altcoins which specialize in anonymity, and Bitcoin was never designed to be anonymous. Unlike Bitcoin Gold and a few other offspring, there will be no pre-mine when it comes to BUM. It will also feature native SegWit support and a unique address format. The latter aspect is important to prevent people from sending money to the wrong Bitcoin-related blockchain.
For now, it seems the Bitcoin Uranium launch will occur on December 31st. This is still a tentative date, mind you, as the exact block height has yet to be determined. No exchanges or wallets have committed to support this new fork yet, nor will they do so until the launch date approaches. What is certain is that more types of Bitcoin are not the answer, as they will only confuse novice users even further. It will be interesting to see if anyone cares about this particular fork, though.
