CYBER CURRENCY
Bitcoin tests democracy amid fears of split
‘It’s very much like Y2K. Everyone is terrified, but I think bitcoin is going to prove itself,’ says Bankymoon CEO
Fears of a possible split in the bitcoin community, which might create two varieties of the crypto-currency, are overblown and do not detract from its long-term potential, say experts. "It’s very much like Y2K. Everyone is terrified, but I think bitcoin is going to prove itself through this problem and come out on top," says Lorien Gamaroff, CEO of blockchain solutions provider Bankymoon and bitcoin wallet Centbee. The popularity of bitcoin has increased the cost but decreased the speed of transactions, creating disagreement among stakeholders over how to scale the network, Gamaroff says. This uncertainty is reflected in large price swings. From a record high of $2,975 on June 12, the price of one bitcoin slipped to $1,910 on July 17 and was trading back above $2,500 on Thursday. Bitcoin functions on a blockchain, a distributed ledger that lives on the internet, with each block representing transactions that cannot be duplicated or erased. Because no single authority controls bitcoi...
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