The Beginner’s Guide to BitcoinSV (BSV)

BitcoinSV (BSV) is a cryptocurrency that was forked due to a civil war that broke out among some pioneering members of the Bitcoin Cash community. Though the fork was announced earlier in August 2018, it took place on November 15 2018, bringing Bitcoin SV (Satoshi Vision) and Bitcoin ABC (Adjustable Block-size Cap). The team behind Bitcoin SV envisions fulfilling the dream of Satoshi Nakamoto by creating a cryptocurrency that can be used as a peer-to-peer payment method while ruling out any issues of limited scalability, hence its name – Bitcoin Satoshi Vision. To accomplish this, some features of the Bitcoin network must be upgraded to improve its decentralization, security, and scalability.

Note: The founders of both projects, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV), claim to be “the real Bitcoin.” Remember not to fall for it! There’s only one Bitcoin – BTC.  Make sure you read our guide to understanding: “The Real Bitcoin – Avoiding Confusion Surrounding Bitcoin.”

BitcoinSV in a nutshell

• It is a forked cryptocurrency from Bitcoin Cash, which occurred on November 15 2018
• Like its sister coins, BSV aims to improve the digital payment system with its improved original coin features.
• Craig Wright and Calvin Ayre are the individuals that orchestrated the fork of BSV.
• The new Bitcoin SV raises the block size limit from 32MB to 128 MB, increasing bitcoin’s scalability as a currency used in daily transactions.

A brief history of Bitcoin Satoshi Vision

Bitcoin SV was forked out of Bitcoin Cash, and this was led by Craig Wright and Calvin Ayre, as they claim to fulfill the real vision of Satoshi Nakamoto. So let’s consider what led to this hard fork on November 15 2018.

Why the Fork?

To avoid all certainty of doubt, there is a need to explain what forking means in cryptocurrencies. Forking is when crypto nodes, aka miners, decide to either build a new blockchain ledger or improve the blockchain network’s features. There are two types of fork: Hard Fork and Soft fork. The hard fork comes when some miners create a new distributed ledger (DLT). On the other hand, a soft fork updates the blockchain network to improve its features without creating a new distributed ledger.

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The argument of what size a block reward should be brought about disagreements divided the BitcoinCash community into two. Craig Wright and Calvin Ayre proposed a software called Bitcoin Satoshi Version, which would limit the block size to 128MB, whiles Roger Ver and Jihan Wu of Bitmain Mining company promoted the use of a software called Bitcoin ABC (Bitcoin Adjustable Blocksize Cap), which would cap the block size at 32MB. Craig & Calvin convinced other miners within the BitcoinCash Community to create Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV).

How does Bitcoin Satoshi Vision work?

Like its mother coins, Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, BSV was developed purposely as a digital payment system for daily transactions in the peer-to-peer network. BSV operates under a decentralized network without any Central Authority; hence, all transactions are stored in its distributed ledger. This ledger is built based on the Proof-of-Work consensus protocol, making it impossible to attack the network without redoing all the built blocks. On average, BSV network speed is almost twice that of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, making it scalable, at least for now, compared to its parent coins.

BSV has the same total supply as Bitcoin Cash at 21M, but only 18.2M has been mined into circulation at the time of publication. The block reward for miners supporting the BSV network is 12.5 BSV.

The reason why Bitcoin SV claims to be the real bitcoin.

Global adoption of Bitcoin as a currency has not been a reality due to the slow rate at which transactions are confirmed. On average, bitcoin can confirm seven transactions per second, making it unsuitable as a currency. Some crypto enthusiasts prefer to call bitcoin an asset for storing value more than a currency.

When launched, Bitcoin’s initial block size limit was 1MB, but this was later increased to 4 MB during the bull run year of bitcoin in 2017. However, as the year went by, some developers within the bitcoin community thought that to make bitcoin a globally used cryptocurrency, it must be scalable enough to accommodate the vast number of transactions being broadcast to the network. This gave birth to Bitcoin Cash, which sought and increased the block size limit to 32MB, and Craig Wright and Calvin Ayre later argued this was not suitable enough to ensure the full scalability of the network. Bitcoin SV sought a soft version, which increased the block limit to 128MB, making it convenient to increase the number of transactions across the network. Bitcoin SV claims to fulfill Satoshi’s vision of creating a digital currency for peer-to-peer transactions by increasing the block limit size.

How to own BSV Coins

The only means of acquiring BSV coins are purchasing them on Exchange platforms, Over-the-Counter platforms, and mining them.

How to mine Bitcoin Satoshi Vision

Mining cryptocurrencies dates back to the launch of bitcoin, where miners contribute to the safety of the network and are rewarded with some number of cryptocurrencies as compensation for their time, electricity,/energy used in running their rigs.  Miners set up mining rigs to confirm transactions broadcast to the network. They do this by solving complex mathematical equations with Application-Specific Integrated Circuits, and once a block of the transaction is completed, the miner is rewarded with the block reward.

Before this, once a miner solves an equation, it broadcasts the information to all other network nodes for validation to avoid double-spending. Once most miners approve this across the network, the miner receives the block reward.

How to buy Bitcoin SV

You can purchase Bitcoin SV from centralized exchanges or over-the-counter platforms. However, once you buy the coins, you must download the BSV wallet and save your funds. Another form of keeping your funds is using hardware wallets such as Trezor, Ledger Nano S, etc. Some of the exchanges you can purchase BSV from are Binance, Bittrex, and Kucoin, while you can use the services of over-the-counter platforms such as Coinbase, SFOX, Smart Contract, etc.

How much is Bitcoin SV worth?

One of the essential characteristics of cryptocurrencies is their volatile nature. Their prices fluctuate from time to time based on projects’ growth, partnerships, product release, etc. The issuing price of BSV was $70.5, and it recorded an all-time high of $441.20 on January 14, 2020. The all-time low price was recorded at $36.87, and this was recorded on November 23 2018. With the current circulation of 18.2M coins, it has a market cap of USD 4,772,420,990. When writing, the BSV value is traded at $297.76.

The Benefits of using Bitcoin SV

• Proof-of-work features make it impossible for users to double spend, offering a high-security level for transactions conducted using BSV.
• Fast and Easy payment process because transactions occur on a peer-to-peer over the blockchain network
• Higher Scalability- by increasing its block size to 128MB, BSV can accommodate more transactions done in BCHABC and BTC, at least for now.

The Risks of using Bitcoin SV

The crypto industry, through blockchain technology, has excellent potential to improve the financial services of this world. Still, it also faces several security threats that make it very risky for users who wish to use cryptocurrencies for payments of goods and services or a store of value.

• Volatility is the ever-changing price of cryptocurrencies that makes them unsuitable to be used as a payment method. On the other hand, Fiat currencies are stable, so buyers and sellers prefer to use them for payments.
• Hacks – the industry has recorded several security breaches into users’ funds and exchange platforms, leading to the loss of millions of dollars. Users whose private keys are stolen by hackers lose their funds and cannot retrieve them again.

Final Thoughts

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As led by Craig Wright, Bitcoin Satoshi Vision plans to make Satoshi Nakamoto’s vision of creating a highly scalable cryptocurrency for peer-to-peer transactions void of any central control. Some people prefer to hold cryptocurrencies as a store of value, while others use them as a medium of exchange. Whichever way you use it, never forget the rule of thumb in the crypto space, “Only put in what you can afford to lose.”