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Bitcoin

Sentiment turns against Bitcoin as high profile proponent warns the crypto-currency has ‘failed’

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By John Glenday, Reporter

January 19, 2016 | 2 min read

Confidence in Bitcoin as a reliable currency for conducting transactions has taken a knock after one of its chief cheerleaders, software developer Mike Hearn, performed a sharp U-turn to describe it as a ‘failed’ project.

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Bitcoin’s popularity has waxed and waned amongst the tech community keen to move away from big business towards the grassroots initiative but it has been beset by reports of fraud and technical challenges.

This owes to the unique architecture of the system, designed by elusive founder Satoshi Nakamoto, which sees a digital ledger added to by solving cryptographic problems which add blocks to a blockchain.

The Achilles heel of Bitcoin is the ever increasing amount of time required for new transactions in tandem with the increase in size of individual blocks in the block chain, slowing payments and making the system unfit for purpose.

In an effort to address these issues Hearn was working alongside Bitcoin’s chief scientist Gavin Andresen on alternative Bitcoin XT software but Hearn says he has now sold all of his Bitcoin holdings and will no longer participate in the format’s development.

Hearn’s announcement saw the value of one Bitcoin plunge from $430 on Thursday to $380.

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