According to the research team, good governance is crucial if we want to have a reliable cryptocurrency . Clear guidelines with recommendations for stakeholders on when software updates are useful will help maintain a reliable cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrency network participants must learn to proactively anticipate useful software changes. For example, participants in Bitcoin networks will have a more reliable cryptocurrency.
If participants could better pre-empt useful updates, there would be better address privacy and transaction security. This would help preserve the value of the cryptocurrency, says Benjamin Trump, a researcher at ORISE, US Army Corps of Engineers.
Benjamin Trump, Emily Wells, Joshua Trump and Igor Linkov wrote about their research in Environment Systems and Decisions (quoted below) . They all work in the Risk and Solutions Research Group at the US Army Engineering Research and Development Center in Concord, USA.
What is a cryptocurrency?
A cryptocurrency is a type of digital (online/electronic) currency that is encrypted and all transactions are verified through a consensus mechanism known as a distributed ledger process. The creators of cryptocurrencies say that data encryption and consensus verification make them secure and virtually tamper-proof.
This type of currency operates without a central bank, unlike the dollar, the pound, the euro and other traditional currencies.
Secure cryptocurrency eludes us
However, we still don't have truly reliable cryptocurrencies. They are extremely volatile. Users still don't trust them as a reliable form of financial exchange.
According to Trump, the underlying technology behind cryptocurrencies is promising. However, current processes that allow software to be updated do not help a truly reliable cryptocurrency establish itself.
Cryptocurrency "forks
Researchers have looked at the state of cryptocurrency "forks". They looked at more than 800 recognised soft forks, source code forks or altcoins, and hard forks of Bitcoin.
Their sources included a Bitcoin exchange guide and a coin map.
Researchers' analysis showed a significant increase in the number of individual blockchains created from the original Bitcoin software. Many of these altcoins and bitcoin forks did not last longer than a few months. Others, on the other hand, such as Vertcoin, Litecoin and Dogecoin, have been around for years. But by the way, Ethereum is the most popular to use . There are a lot of different variants that use this cryptocurrency, and best Ethereum casinos has become popular . Many people use the cryptocurrency in this plan .
Experts predict more forks
According to experts, forks will become more common. Some experts predict there will be as many as fifty from late 2018 to 2019.
Trump, who was the lead author, said:
"Hardforks are a threat to maintaining a stable and predictable operating platform, which is necessary if cryptocurrencies are to be adopted for everyday financial transactions."
Read also Ethereum becomes second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, overtaking Ripple
