Bitcoin Forks: What Does it Mean for BTC's Security and Identity?

A renewed debate among prominent Bitcoin voices has reignited questions about whether the 2017 UTXO forks preserved BTC's security and identity.

The dispute centers on which changes preserve Bitcoin's original network and which create separate chains with different security assumptions.

Bitcoin Cash split from the main chain at block 478,558 on August 1, 2017, but retained SHA-256d mining, as did its derivative BSV. In contrast, Bitcoin Gold adopted Equihash, while Bitcoin Diamond moved to the X13 algorithm.

This has led some to question whether these changes compromise Bitcoin's security and identity.