Blockchain currencies may prove to be one of the most important technological and financial innovations of our time. Unfortunately, people don’t understand what they are. In a study conducted earlier this year, just over half of the people surveyed said they had heard about Bitcoin. But when it comes to how and why new coins are created, most people just don’t get it.
Consumer confidence has been a major barrier to the widespread adoption of new coins. People don’t buy what they don’t understand, and the sheer novelty of many new blockchain currencies can prevent them from entering the mainstream. Unlike other Bitcoin forks, the newly announced Bitcoin fork to be released in January of 2018 “Bitcoin Interest” will foster a high degree of consumer confidence because it is introducing a familiar financial product to the virtual currency market.
What is a Bitcoin Fork?
Blockchain currencies are powered by miners, the people who perform transaction verifications. In order for a transaction to be verified, the majority of the miners must agree that it follows the rules of the blockchain. If the majority of miners decide to create new rules for the blockchain, they can branch off from the existing blockchain through a fork. The fork then continues on independently from the rest of the blockchain under its own rules.
Miners create Bitcoin forks to improve the capacity, efficiency, and security of virtual currency transactions. Bitcoin Cash, one of the most successful Bitcoin forks to date, now has a market value of about $20 billion. However, the second hard fork on the Bitcoin blockchain, Bitcoin Gold, was not as well received. In the handful of weeks Bitcoin Gold has been on the market, the new currency has been mired by fraudulent activities and security threats, making purchasing the coin even riskier that most cryptocurrency investments.
Bitcoin Interest Attracts Risk-Averse Investors
Unlike the riskier Bitcoin forks, Bitcoin Interest offers a safe, familiar financial service to virtual currency holders. This familiarity will attract the more risk-adverse investors that have thus far shied away from virtual currency markets.
Interest-bearing bank accounts is a benefit enjoyed by most traditional bank customer. Bitcoin Interest now gives virtual currency users access to these same perks. Specifically, Bitcoin Interest is a fork on the Bitcoin blockchain that changes the rules of the currency to allow for the payment of interest on held, or “parked” currencies. Coin holders can earn interest on the coins they are holding onto, combining the interest-bearing benefits of traditional bank accounts with the ease and efficiency of cryptocurrencies.
How Bitcoin Interest Works
Bitcoin Interest coin holders can get paid weekly or monthly interest on their coin holdings in the form of Bitcoin Interest Coins (“BCI”). Bitcoin Interest holders earn interest based on the amount of coins parked in their accounts as well as how many coins are parked across the whole platform in the active interest round. Users are paid interest weekly or monthly on any amount parked in their Bitcoin Interest account for the required time period.
Bitcoin Interest: A Bitcoin Fork with Real Value
Bitcoin forks are becoming increasingly popular. Some of these new projects – like Bitcoin Uranium, which chose to name its coin the “BUM” – hardly seem serious. However, Bitcoin Interest stands out among the growing number of Bitcoin forks.
Bitcoin Interest offers a financial product that the everyday consumer is already comfortable with. Mainstream adoption has been one of the largest barriers to success in the burgeoning cryptocurrency market. However, soon Bitcoin Interest will offer interest-bearing virtual currency features that remind users of their traditional bank account. This is an innovative way to introduce a familiar financial service to a brand new group of customers, and it creates real value for a market that has been plagued by volatility and low consumer confidence.
The Conclusion
With all of the Bitcoin hard forks that have been, and that are soon to be, Bitcoin Interest may be one of the most successful forks on the Bitcoin blockchain yet, due to its approach of migrating a familiar banking service and delivering it to the virtual currency community. With that being said, don’t forget to have your Bitcoins in an exchange or wallet that will support the 1:1 swap of Bitcoin Interest (“BCI”) coins before January, this is not a fork that you will want to miss!
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