Bitcoin Gold is so interesting because it shows how kinda irrelevant 51% attacks are in Bitcoin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_Gold
It has had many attacks, most exchanges require a huge amount of confirmations in order to credit BTG. Binance require 70 confirmations, and this is a fork of BTC
So, let me try to use different models to see if they explain why this is still worth $1.2B (more than the value of entire companies)
-The currency model
In the currency model, the better the currency the more valuable it is. Well, BTG has almost zero uses as a currency due the huge amount of confirmations it require. The amount of time of have to wait before you are use you really have the coin makes it worse than just about anything out there. No one is developing a lightning network for this one.
So, in this model, it makes no sense for it to be worth $1.2B forcing the person guided by this model to say 'its a bubble'. And somehow these "bubbles" keep lasting forever,
https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin-gold
-The technology model
The technology is complete garbage and its attacked constantly. Its not secure, transactions can be censored, miners can double spend if the recepients are not careful enough. There are plenty of better technologies out there that are similar (Bitcoin, Bitcoin cash, Litecoin) but that have stood the test of time and are more robust
So, this model is also useless, it does not explain the market cap and its enduring value forcing the person to say 'its a bubble' and once again the bubble model will fail as these things have enduring value time and time again
-The bubble model
Its useless at making predictions about the future because it wrong so often, it resembles astrology more than anything else
-The colectible model
Bitcoin gold is a collectible for people that liked Satoshi's idea of 'one CPU one vote', and that dislike Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash as a result. All of the sudden everything is explained. Its not about transactions, no one uses Bitcoin for real purchases (but only to try to make a point),
its about the ledger. As a long as you are part of the ledger, you are part of the hoarding of this collectible. 51% attacks cannot undo more than 50-100 blocks so it might take a while for people to get in the ledger (to be able to hoard their collectible) but after that, its really difficult for these attacks to have an effect. There is only so much money that attackers are willing to throw at this. Plus, lots own through exchanges, so they can hoard it without ever having to make a transaction and wait for confirmations.
So people can buy, hoard it and feel like they are continuing the legacy of Satoshi. That they are special and are part of history
I'm finding this model so much more useful than the models I was using before. Now all of the sudden things look a lot clearer
