It seems we can’t get enough of Bitcoin. Just when we think we caught the last fork, another one emerges, yet again promising to “make Bitcoin great again.”
This time round, the effort is coming from China, where developers are looking to optimize Bitcoin through a number of measures, including Lightning Network and an 8-megabyte block size.
For some reason, they argue that Bitcoin has lost a tremendous share of the cryptocurrency market due to aggressive competition coming from the likes of Ethereum and ZCash. Therefore, the Bitcoin community has gathered a group of enthusiasts and developers who share the goal of revitalizing Bitcoin dominance.
And so the Super Bitcoin (SBTC) was born on Tuesday, Dec. 12, starting from block 498,888, with the idea to include all the technologies that could improve the network in the future.
But, they are also careful to add that “this is just an experiment,” at least that’s what Super Bitcoin’s website claims, adding:
We are merely implementing the proposals recommended by the Bitcoin community. Only when we put these talks into actions that we can make Bitcoin great again.
Like the original Bitcoin, its Super “variant” will also have a limited supply of 21 million coins, plus 210,000 pre-mined coins, for a total of 21,210,000 tokens.
Those additional 210,000 pre-mined tokens will be managed by the Super BTC Foundation and will be used to “encourage early developers, invest in the super BTC ecosystem and ensure the operation of the Super BTC Foundation.”
The original Bitcoin holders will be compensated with one super BTC for every BTC held.
Let’s answer key questions:
1. What are Super Bitcoin’s key features?
Its key features, which also make SBTC better than the regular BTC, include:
- Turing-complete Smart Contracts
- Lightning Network to increase the transaction speed
- Zero-knowledge proofs to safeguard privacy
- Bigger Blocks – 8MB vs 1MB of the regular BTC
2. What is the total supply of SBTC?
SBTC will have a total supply of 21,210,000, of which 210,000 will be pre-mined. So we are looking at a cryptocurrency with strict monetary policy, like the original Bitcoin.
3. Who’s supporting Super Bitcoin?
Major Bitcoin mining pools f2pool and BTCC have apparently slated to support the fork. Also 21 exchanges will be trading the new cryptocurrency.
4. What’s the road ahead for Super Bitcoin?
Super Bitcoin has a roadmap ahead. It includes:
- 2017.12.12. Super Bitcoin was forked at the height of 498,888.
- 2018.03.31. Embed smart contracts, improving scalability of BTC.
- 2018.05.31. Incorporate zero-knowledge proofs to safeguard privacy.
- 2018.11.30. Remove dynamic checkpoint protection.
Have some other questions? Not sure we could answer it, but you are free to check out Super Bitcoin’s website and perhaps find what you’re looking for there. Good luck! 😉