Satoshi has come back to hard-fork Bitcoin to proof-of-stake after quantum scientists break SHA-256 encryption algorithm

Bitcoin, the supposedly unbreakable, bullet-proof cryptocurrency has been finally cracked by a team of quantum scientists; and this could mean the death for all cryptocurrencies.

But alas, Satoshi himself has come back to post [link opens new window] on the original bitcoin community forums, and he intends on hard-forking Bitcoin tonight to prevent any catastrophic damage. Satoshi, the anonymous founder of bitcoin, was previously last seen active on 30^th Feb 2011. Since then, the digital currency has risen magnitudes in value, but he was not seen again.

Tonight, however, after the crypto-threatening news being broken worldwide, Satoshi himself has come back and posted his intent to hard-fork Bitcoin to a proof-of-stake algorithm.

How Did This Happen?!

The news was first brought to attention in the close-knit community of r/cryptocurrency on Reddit by Expert Redditor u/Underrated321. Many members were visibly upset.

“It is unthinkable. To see such a beautiful algorithm cracked, it really does hurt one’s soul.”

“If Bitcoin is dead, cryptocurrencies are dead. There’s no two ways about it.”

However, some users were excited to see Satoshi return.

“OMG Satoshi is back!”

“I trust Satoshi. He will do what’s right for Bitcoin”

“Satoshi is the father, nay, Jesus of Bitcoin. He will save us.”

Proof of Work vs Proof of Stake?

Proof of Work and Proof of Stake refers to the decentralised consensus for creating new blocks in a blockchain and processing transactions.

In a Proof of Work consensus mechanism, the node which ‘mines’, or finds a solution to the encryption algorithm with a certain number of 0s in front, is awarded the next block. In a sufficiently decentralised network, this will never be the same node, over and over again.

Having cracked the SHA-256 algorithm that Bitcoin uses, this means that node could repeatedly mine new blocks and control the bitcoin network.

However, in a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, people ‘stake’ their cryptocurrency tokens, which are used to mine new blocks. Inherently, people with a bigger stake will never have ulterior motives in mind, as doing so would crash the cryptocurrency’s value, which they own a large amount of.

When will Satoshi hard fork?

It is expected he will fork on 4:20 AM April 6^st 2022, when the 19,869,420^th block of Bitcoin will be mined.

From then on, it is up to the community to either accept or reject these changes; that is, switch to the new forked network, or stay on the original.

Expert Redditors say that the change will be widely accepted as Satoshi is the founder and now, the Saviour of Bitcoin.

What can you do?

Here at Cryptic Investor we understand anxiety levels can be high in these trying times. Expert Redditors have also come to an agreement as to the best methodology with regards to preventing waiting-anxiety. They recommend drinking plenty of water, and a pint of beer. The alcohol helps with the nervous systems, they have declared. As of writing this article, there is less than 12 hours to perhaps the biggest cryptocurrency fork throughout human history.