BLAKE2b Bitcoin Fork Ignored by Miners and Exchanges

A new Bitcoin fork, dubbed BLAKE2b, went live on September 1. Created by Luke Dashjr, it aimed to allow ordinary computers to mine BTC once again. However, miners and exchanges largely ignored the fork.

The fork's creator swapped the mining algorithm from SHA-256 to BLAKE2b in an effort to make mining more accessible. But this move had unintended consequences, as the specialized rigs that secure Bitcoin cannot touch the new chain.

The result was a significant loss of hashrate, which plummeted after launch. Blockstream CEO Adam Back summarized the outcome with a simple phrase: 'Live by the fork, die by the fork.'

Dashjr remains defiant, insisting that the minority chain is the genuine article and that Bitcoin has moved to BLAKE2b. However, data contradicts this claim, and traders barely reacted to the fork.