BTCU: Offering a new path for first & second generation blockchains

By the BCTU team.

Bitcoin was the first decentralized cryptocurrency launched in 2009. It uses blockchain and has outperformed traditional assets like gold, totalling a staggering 400% to its value over the last 12 months. The cryptocurrency’s price as at 31st January 2011 stood at 1.00/coin USD, currently, it worth over 40000.00/coin USD, making it one of the biggest investment phenomenon in modern history.

Since its inception, blockchain technology has gained momentum. Not only because of the tremendous spike in Bitcoin’s value, but also through an increased recognition of its significance and greater trust among investors. The growing trend around crypto has led to more and more acceptance and use cases. For example, in 2020, PayPal disclosed it has entered the cryptocurrency market, that customers can buy, sell and hold Bitcoin and other digital currencies through their PayPal accounts.

Even though Bitcoin coincided with several technological innovations, cryptocurrency advocates have identified many problems associated with the network. These technical limitations hinder its core purpose as peer-to-peer electronic cash that would facilitate transactions without a central authority.

While the Bitcoin community struggles with infighting and gridlock over the most effective way to solve the network’s outdated functionality. A third-generation blockchain, based on the core of Bitcoin is set to offer practical solutions to the cryptocurrency’s failings.

BTC Ultimatum (BTCU) is a next-gen blockchain based on Bitcoin core. Developed to solve Bitcoin’s excessive energy consumption associated with mining, scalability and transaction anonymity while maintaining all of its useful characteristics. This involves the creation of a new mining algorithm – UPoS (Ultimatum PoS)-, provision of smart contract, implementation of atomic swaps and integration of Ethereum virtual machine (EVM).

It combines Ethereum smart contract functionality with Bitcoin’s security to create a blockchain that is suitable for quick-payment systems for crypto users and large organizations.

We believe insufficient development and integration of key aspects of blockchain technologies is the missing piece to fuel mass adoption.

The integration of Ethereum virtual machine (EVM) will facilitate the implementation of smart contracts on the famous Solidity, which provides enormous opportunities for project tokenization or DeFi implementation. This will allow developers to implement their projects efficiently on the BTCU network and also transfer existing ones. Similarly, implementing atomic swap technology natively to the blockchain protocol will introduce interoperability between BTCU and different chains. This will increase security, exchange of data, and ultimately more powerful applications and services that will expand the global possibilities of the technology.

Although Proof of Work (PoW) in Bitcoin guarantee network security, the use of specialized hardware and electricity makes it inefficient from a resource standpoint. As it compels miners to continuously deploy more resources for mining, which makes the process expensive and ecologically unsustainable. This has resulted in efforts to develop similar consensus protocols that are much less resource-intensive, like Proof of Stake (PoS).

New consensus algorithms are needed to overcome Bitcoin’s excessive energy consumption associated with mining and return decentralization as the founding principle of blockchain networks. Therefore, the BTC Ultimatum (BTCU) blockchain combines Leased Proof of Stake (LPoS) with Proof of Authority (PoA) in a new mining algorithm called UPoS (Ultimatum PoS). Leased Proof-of-Stake (LPoS) will enable everyday users without technical expertise to help secure the network, leasing their BTCU to full nodes without losing control of their coins.

This will, in turn, guarantee low fees since there is no need to compensate miners with block rewards for high electricity costs and the use of expensive hardware. The combination of these two algorithms ensures a democratic form of control, improved scalability and low network (energy) maintenance cost.

Like Ethereum, the Bitcoin Ultimatum blockchain supports smart contracts as one of the primary functions for implementing transactions and creating DApp applications. It incorporates a large number of practical applications developed to positively impact all sectors of our everyday activities. Ranging from Asset Tokenization to Rights Management, Supply chain and document flow to Cross-border Payments, and easy access to Patients’ Medical Records in the health sector.

In manufacturing (i.e. tokenization), it will decimate the time, costs and complexity entailed in innovation — the conversion of debts into debentures — by automating key processes and reducing the risk of counterfeiting through blockchain-powered smart contracts.

Using distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) and smart contracts has the potential to provide many advantages, such as enhancing transactional data and pricing transparency by improving the liquidity and tradability of illiquid assets. To allow investors to buy tokens representing a tiny percentage of an asset which will lower barriers to investment and give retail investors access to previously unaffordable asset classes.

Again, since there is no need for an intermediary to hold or move the ownership of an asset, tokenization allows for efficiency gains through automation and disintermediation, cheaper and nearly real-time clearing and settlement, as noted by OECD report on asset tokenization.

BTCU is a blockchain project that stands out in terms of applicability across multiple industries, including payments, supply chain, retail, and others. Likewise, it offers superior technology by addressing scalability, privacy and security in first and second generation blockchains.

It is an entire modern blockchain that has been developed from scratch by carefully examining the limitations and outstanding characteristics of the two most popular cryptocurrencies. The fork took place on Friday, 5th February 2021, and was supported by Liquid, Probit, Yobit, Coinsbit, Biki, P2Pb2b, LocalTrade, Folgory, Bitforex, BiOne and LBank exchanges.

The launch of the BTCU mainnet witnessed broad support from the cryptocurrency community. By attracting the attention of prominent crypto experts, whom many have gone on board as ambassadors and are working together with the new team led by CEO Eric Ma (formal community manager and core member of CoinMarketCap).

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