How to Buy Bitcoin Gold (BTG)
Beginner’s Guide
What Is Bitcoin Gold (BTG)?
Bitcoin Gold (BTG) is a cryptocurrency that was created in 2017 as a hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain. Its aim was to create a more decentralized version of Bitcoin that was accessible to a wider range of miners.
Bitcoin Gold’s developers sought to address the problem of centralization in Bitcoin mining, where a small group of specialized miners dominated the network, making it difficult for ordinary people to mine Bitcoin. Bitcoin Gold uses a different mining algorithm than Bitcoin called Equihash, which is resistant to ASIC mining, meaning that it can be mined using standard computer hardware, and not just specialized mining equipment.
Like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Gold has a limited supply of 21 million coins, with the last coin expected to be mined in 2140. It also shares many of the same features as Bitcoin, including the ability to send and receive transactions, and its decentralized and immutable nature. However, it also has some unique features such as its decentralized mining model and lower transaction fees.
How to Buy Bitcoin Gold Summary
- Get a Bitcoin Gold wallet (e.g. Ledger, Trezor , Exodus, Guarda, AtomicWallet)
- Find an exchange that sells Bitcoin Gold (e.g. Bitfinex, OKX, Bybit, GATE, Huobi)
- Deposit money and make the trade
- Withdraw the Bitcoin Gold to your wallet
Buying Bitcoin Gold in 3 Simple Steps
Step 1 – Get a BTG wallet
Bitcoin Gold Hardware Wallets
Hardware wallets are a popular way to securely store cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin Gold (BTG). Here are some of the hardware wallets that are compatible with BTG:
Ledger Nano S: The Ledger Nano S is a popular hardware wallet that supports Bitcoin Gold, as well as many other cryptocurrencies. It is a small and portable device that allows you to store your private keys offline and away from potential online threats.
Trezor: Trezor is another popular hardware wallet that supports Bitcoin Gold. It features a simple and intuitive interface, as well as a range of security features to keep your BTG safe.
KeepKey: KeepKey is a hardware wallet that supports Bitcoin Gold, as well as a range of other cryptocurrencies. It has a large, easy-to-read screen and a simple user interface.
BitBox02: BitBox02 is a hardware wallet developed by Swiss company Shift Crypto that supports Bitcoin Gold. It features a touch screen, dual-chip architecture, and a range of security features to keep your BTG safe.
It’s worth noting that not all hardware wallets support Bitcoin Gold, so it’s important to do your research and make sure that the wallet you choose is compatible with BTG before making a purchase. Additionally, it’s important to always buy hardware wallets directly from the manufacturer or an authorized reseller to ensure that you’re not getting a counterfeit product that could compromise the security of your BTG.
The best option for storing any cryptocurrency would be to use a hardware wallet. These are pieces of hardware that store the private key to your coins offline.
Today, there are two leading hardware manufacturers to choose from – Ledger and TREZOR. Both companies have different models of hardware wallets that will get the job done.
If you want deeper insights on specific models, you can read my Ledger Nano X review or my TREZOR Model T review.
Bitcoin Gold Software Wallets
Software wallets are another way to store Bitcoin Gold (BTG) securely. Here are some of the software wallets that support BTG:
ElectrumG: ElectrumG is a lightweight wallet for Bitcoin Gold that is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. It features a simple and intuitive interface and allows you to store your BTG securely offline.
Exodus: Exodus is a popular multi-cryptocurrency software wallet that supports Bitcoin Gold, as well as a range of other cryptocurrencies. It has a user-friendly interface and allows you to easily manage your BTG alongside your other coins.
Coinomi: Coinomi is a multi-cryptocurrency wallet that supports Bitcoin Gold, as well as a range of other cryptocurrencies. It is available for Android and iOS, as well as desktop platforms like Windows, Linux, and Mac OS.
Guarda: Guarda is a multi-cryptocurrency wallet that supports Bitcoin Gold, as well as a range of other cryptocurrencies. It is available as a desktop app, a web wallet, and a mobile app for Android and iOS.
When choosing a software wallet, it’s important to consider factors like security, ease of use, and compatibility with your device. It’s also important to keep in mind that software wallets are more vulnerable to online threats like hacking and malware, so it’s important to take proper security precautions like using a strong password and two-factor authentication.
Hardware wallets cost money, so if you’re not sure how serious you are about cryptocurrencies and just want to get a taste of what they feel like, perhaps you would be better off starting with a software wallet.
A software wallet is a free program that lets you store your coins on your computer or mobile phone.
The easiest Bitcoin Gold coin software wallets to get started with are undoubtedly Exodus, AtomicWallet and Guarda . All wallets are very intuitive. Exodus, Atomic Wallet and Guarda is available on desktop for Windows, Mac and Linux, as well as on mobile for both iOS and Android. If you want more information you can read my Exodus, AtomicWallet and Guarda review.
Step 2 – Find an Bitcoin Gold (BTG) Exchange
Buy Bitcoin Gold through Bitfinex
- Bitfinex is a cryptocurrency exchange owned and operated by iFinex Inc registered in the British Virgin Islands.Their customers’ money has been stolen or lost in several incidents, and they have been unable to secure normal banking relationships. Bitfinex was founded in December 2012 as a peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange, offering digital asset trading services to users around the world. Bitfinex initially started as a P2P margin lending platform for Bitcoin and later added support for more cryptocurrencies.
Buy Bitcoin Gold through Okex
- OKX (Chinese: 欧易), formerly known as OKEx, is a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange and derivatives exchange. It was founded by Star Xu (徐明星) in 2017. OKX is owned by Ok Group, which also owns crypto exchange Okcoin. It is not available to US based investors. The company’s CEO is Jay Hao and CMO is Haider Rafique. Initially headquartered in Beijing, China, OKX is now under a blanket ban by Chinese regulators. On October 13, 2021, it issued a “Notice on Regulatory Policy in Mainland China”, announcing that it would continue its policy of “withdrawing from the Chinese mainland market” and would not establish an office or team in the region. However, according to Caixin, although the exchange officially announced that it would no longer set up an office in Mainland China, it still has a large number of R&D staff working in the region, including engineers, who continue to work for OKX in the form of third-party outsourcing companies.
Buy Bitcoin Gold through Bybit
- The exchange prides itself on delivering multilingual online support to its customers and is committed to providing a transparent and efficient trading experience. The products on the platform include BTC/USD, ETH/USD, LTC/USD, and XRP/USD perpetual contracts. A perpetual contract resembles a traditional futures contract in many ways. Its main difference, however, is that it doesn’t have an expiry date. Hence, traders are allowed to hold their positions for as long as they need to.Moreover, the exchange boasts a 100,000 TPS state-of-the-art matching engine. While many of its competitors have suffered from repeated overload problems, this high-performance matching engine makes it possible for Bybit to stand above the competition.The Bybit cryptocurrency broker platform is operated by the Bybit Fintech Limited which is registered on the British Virgin Islands, with headquarters in Singapore. The company was launched in March 2018, making it a fairly young player on the market.
Buy Bitcoin Gold through Gate.io
- Gate.io is a crypto exchange founded in the fall of 2017. The platform is a part of Gate Technology Inc corporation, and has a registration address in Virginia, USA. The platform does not have an official license. Its interface is available for working in three versions: English, Chinese and Japanese.
Buy Bitcoin Gold through Huobi
- Huobi is a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange. Founded in China, the company now has offices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and the United States. In August 2018 it became a publicly listed Hong Kong company. Following a 2017 ban on Bitcoin exchanges by the Chinese government, Huobi stopped Bitcoin withdrawals.
Step 3 – Withdraw Your Bitcoin Gold (BTG)
Once you decide on an exchange, open an account and buy your Bitcoin Gold. Make sure to withdraw the Bitcoin Gold from the exchange to your personal wallet.
Never leave coins on an exchange, as you risk losing them all if that exchange gets hacked or shuts down (which has happened in the past) and always double check address before send coins because you can send the coins to wrong address .
OVERVIEW
Who Are the Founders of Bitcoin Gold?
Bitcoin Gold was founded by a group of enthusiasts with diverse backgrounds and skills. Hang Yin is a co-founder and lead developer at Bitcoin Gold. He graduated with a degree in computer science from Fudan University in 2015. His professional career started right after he graduated. In late 2015, Yin became a software engineer for Google. After three years with the tech giant, Hang Yin decided to venture into entrepreneurship by starting Bitcoin Gold. In 2018, he also participated in the founding of HashForests.
Martin Kuvandzhiev is the second co-founder of Bitcoin Gold, and he is also a board member at the company. He graduated with a degree in computer software engineering from the Technical University of Sofia, and his professional path started as a food service worker at McDonald’s. In 2015, he became an assistant professor at the Technical University of Sofia, and in 2016, he started a job as a lead iOS developer at phyre JSC. Since co-founding Bitcoin Gold in 2017, he has also launched another company called GoStartups.net. Currently, Kuvandzhiev is also the CEO of Assetify.
What Makes Bitcoin Gold Unique?
Bitcoin Gold (BTG) was created in 2017 as a hard fork of the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain, with the aim of addressing some of the issues associated with Bitcoin, specifically its centralization in mining. Here are some of the key features that make Bitcoin Gold unique:
Decentralized mining: Bitcoin Gold uses a different mining algorithm than Bitcoin, known as Equihash, which is designed to be resistant to specialized mining hardware like ASICs. This means that mining BTG can be done using standard computer hardware, making it more accessible to a wider range of people and helping to decentralize mining power.
Accessibility: Bitcoin Gold was created with the goal of making Bitcoin mining more accessible to individuals, as opposed to large mining corporations with specialized equipment. By using a mining algorithm that is accessible to standard hardware, the Bitcoin Gold network can be mined by a wider range of individuals.
Lower transaction fees: Compared to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Gold generally has lower transaction fees, making it a more cost-effective option for those who frequently send and receive cryptocurrency transactions.
Community-driven: Bitcoin Gold is driven by a community of developers and supporters who are passionate about creating a more decentralized and accessible cryptocurrency. As an open-source project, anyone can contribute to its development and growth.
Overall, Bitcoin Gold aims to be a more decentralized and accessible alternative to Bitcoin, while still retaining the key features of a decentralized and immutable cryptocurrency.
How Many Bitcoin Gold (BTG) Coins Are There in Circulation?
Bitcoin Gold has a maximum supply of 21,000,000 BTG tokens and a total supply of 17,513,924 BTG tokens. The current circulating supply is equal to the total supply.
Out of the total amount of BTG tokens, 30% went towards the development of the blockchain and the project. Another 15% were reserved for ecosystem support and development, and another 15% were distributed amongst the BTG community. About 20% of the total BTG token supply was reserved for yearly expenses. Close to 7% of BTG tokens were set aside for bounties and app collaboration, while another 5% went towards rewards for the founding team. The remaining 8% of tokens went towards covering pre-fork costs and community development.
How Is the Bitcoin Gold Network Secured?
As a Bitcoin hard fork, Bitcoin Gold relies on the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism. However, one of BTG’s main goals was to revolutionize the mining process by introducing the Equihash PoW, which favors GPUs for mining, unlike the Bitcoin blockchain.
While Bitcoin relies predominantly on application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners, This version of Equihash uses more memory than an ASIC can offer but runs fine on many graphics cards. Unlike the Ethereum blockchain, which relies on the proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism and favors stakeholders, Bitcoin Gold places importance on the processing power miners have.