Bytecoin - Much Ado About Nothing?

​By now cryptonistas will have noticed that the dust seems to have settled on the Bytecoin saga (if you can call it that). As I write, Bytecoin (BCN) is still ranked in the top 40 on Coinmarketcap and priced at $0.00137598 on the Poloniex exchange. This is up from a low of $0.00126080. So, what is Bytecoin? Bytecoin is a decentralized cryptocurrency based on the cryptonote technology designed to protect a user’s privacy with untraceable payments.  In the beginning, all seemed well until it was discovered that there had been a premine of the coins – 82% to be exact! Some have disputed this claim. There is a way to sort that out – look at the blockchain. Enough said!

​Well, not really. I may remind you that Satoshi Nakamoto did mine for Bitcoin (some say premine) and then disappeared. One could argue that this was when he was demonstrating proof of concept. “Maybe” the Bytecoin team were doing the same (really, at 82%!). Perhaps the biggest problem for Bytecoin is that the people behind the coin are not really known. This “shady” beginning has not helped. The irony of it all is that Monero is a fork of Bytecoin and has gone on to be very respectable within the crypto community. 

​One day in October we woke to find that the price of Bytecoin dropped dramatically. It turns out that the most powerful crypto exchange – Binance – delisted Bytecoin. A second exchange – OKEx – soon followed. Binance gave its reasons for the delisting, which include commitment of team to project, level of public communication and activity, and evidence of unethical/fraudulent conduct. OKEx main reason for delisting was that there was a critical technical issue left unhandled. As to be expected, the price fell. As we have seen, Bytecoin is down but not out. It remains in the top 40 and its price has risen. This is a far cry from the euphoria of its Binance listing and the partnering with Lydian that used Bytecoin for its ICO. 

Some cryptonistas have seen a buying opportunity while others think it is the end of the road. If there is one thing I have learned about the crypto market is to never write any cryptocurrency off. All it takes is a smidgen of good news and the price heads off to Jupiter. No one really knows where things will end. ​And as for my thoughts on the matter, I wondered why all fuss on a coin with little or no importance than it might have had. In other words, much ado about nothing. I am surprised it is still in the top 40 of cryptocurrencies. As for where it will all end, your guess is as good as mine.)

​Disclosure: I do own some Bytecoin from mining when I first came across Minergate. I also obtained some from the free give away sites. I make no suggestions of purchase to anyone, do so at your own risk.