*By Carlo Versano* There's a civil war underway in cryptocurrency ー and it's shaking investor confidence in the very foundation of the blockchain. Bitcoin, down 25 percent in a week and over 75 percent since its highs of a year ago, is suffering at least in part from the latest "hard fork" split of the two versions of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) into ABC and SV ー which themselves are just second-rate copies of the original Bitcoin currency, according to Merlin Rothfeld, a crypto investor and strategist with the Online Trading Academy. Rothfeld predicted the volatility in Bitcoin will be a good thing in the long term, as it "shakes out" the vulnerabilities in the relationship between crypto and blockchain. All of the things that have consistently appealed to Bitcoin investors ー the decentralization, transparency, chain of record ー are still intact, Rothfeld said. "That's very appealing to have this kind of autonomy." Some investors worry that miners are mining "empty blocks" that would modify, and thus interfere with, the older version of the blockchain of a specific currency ー and that shakes the confidence of the entire market that relies on "proof of work" algorithms to record transactions, according to Rothfeld. Once investors better understand how those vulnerabilities are being exploited, they can be patched, Rothfeld said. But until then, we should expect the volatility to continue and Bitcoin demand to wane. "I don't see it stopping anytime soon," he said. For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/whats-next-for-the-bitcoin-slump).

Share:
More In Technology
What Happened To Solar Cars?
In the 1980's and 90's, the solar car was deemed the future of transportation. Yet, just as quickly as it arrived, the solar car disappeared. But today, as the problems caused by our reliance on fossil fuels have grown, so has a demand for alternative sources of energy for our vehicles. While electric cars are rapidly gaining a larger share of the automotive market, this technology still relies on electricity from a grid often fueled by petroleum or coal. And this is why some companies today are again trying to harness the most powerful energy source we know: the sun.
Facebook Axes Small Russian Troll Network Ahead of Election
Facebook said Tuesday that it removed a small network of accounts and pages linked to Russia's Internet Research Agency, the “troll factory" that has used social media accounts to sow political discord in the U.S. since the 2016 presidential election.
Load More