Developers have introduced the first Ethereum-based token that relies on Bitcoin core principles. They have brought bitcoin to the Ethereum blockchain in the form of ERC20. According to the token’s developers, the currency requires no pre-mining or an ICO. Users can mine the bitcoin-like coin on the Ethereum blockchain. While the coin can be mined, it does not require a dedicated equipment to do so.
Developers say Bitcoinereum is the first minable ERC20 token. ERC20 tokens are often pre-generated as there is no mining involved at all. After all, it is rather difficult to generate such tokens to start with.
According to the developers’ website, Bitcoinereum is based on Bitcoin supply mechanism but runs on the Ethereum blockchain. Anyone can mine the token because the reward per block is the same as that of the original bitcoin. Every ten minutes, 50 coins are generated. Rewards go down over time.
“Anyone can mine Bitcoinereum by calling the Mine() function of the smart contract. You just need to interact with the smart contract by using any Ethereum wallet like MyEtherWallet.com or geth. The token incorporates a similar mining mechanism to Bitcoin, including the mining reward halving every 4 years. The whole process is quite transparent and we invite anyone interested to review the Bitcoinereum source code.” the Bitcoinereum team said.
Only 21 million coins can be generated. According to the Bitcoinereum team, it will take 132 years to mine all tokens. At the time of writing, there are almost 100, 000 mined BTCM tokens. Even so, the token doesn’t seem to serve any purpose. You cannot spend BTCM like you can with BTC or ether, because there isn’t anyone who accepts BTCM at the moment. Also, it seems the coin isn’t available in most exchanges. This means it’s one of the tokens which very few people care about.