Big pushes keeping it under 50satoshi... When was the hardfork update again?
Browsing the forum, I think a month back, dev team said estimated time 4-6 weeks.
We are not far away.
I am longing for the time in future we can pay for coffee, fast and hasslefree, no central bank.
although i have been keeping track of bitcoin news for about more than a year now and have done my own research and studies to understand better, i still can't grasp the meaning behind 'hardfork'.
can anyone explain to me roughly what it means and the implications it will bring? like how will it affect the price, etc.
I'm not qualified to give a technical answer. Other people would be better suited to explaining the technical details (although those details might not clarify your questions).
You asked three questions. What it means? What are the implications? How will it impact the price? Here are my best attempts at non-technical answers ...
1. It means that Digibyte is upgrading the protocol. We'll call it upgrading because - in this instance - it is an upgrade. But, in reality, a hard fork wouldn't NEED to be an upgrade, it could just be a fix or a change. Any significant changes to the protocol would require a hard fork. Keep in mind that digital currencies are a distributed network - they are a payment protocol - more specifically - the block chain is a protocol for processing, securing, and tracking transactions. But, remember, it is a distributed network ... in order to sync with the block chain, all the wallets for all the users need to be able to process the protocol (the rules for processing the blockchain) ... (or at least all the people who use the full Digibyte client and download/sync the blockchain). We could imagine adding a minor feature to the wallet - or adding a new payment service - or even creating DigiTip - these changes don't fundamentally alter the Digibyte protocol. They build features and services using the protocol but they don't change it. The coming hard fork means that DGB is upgrading the protocol that underlies all the services and transactions.
2. The implication is simple (assuming everything goes smoothly). Everyone will have to upgrade their DGB wallets to properly sync with the new protocol (at least everyone who runs DigiByte-QT). If someone fails to upgrade, they will not see transactions appear in their wallet after the hard fork (or potentially they could have serious problems). Basically, the only technical implication is that you will have to upgrade your wallet. DGB is a well-managed coin - they have a good team. Therefore, I'm not anticipating any major problems. But, just by way of disclaimer, any hard fork - for any coin - could have problems that require additional fixes, development, etc.. As I said, they've got this under control, they're clearly doing it right (not rushing to solve a major problem) ... some coins have had to rush a hard fork because they need to address an existing problem; but that's not what's going here ... DGB is taking the time they need ... and they're just upgrading the speed ... so everything should be smooth and easy.
3. There might be some short term increase in the value (assuming everything goes smooth). There might be some short term decrease in the value (if there are any problems). However, my best guess is that in the short term (first few months) there probably won't be any significant impact on the market value of DGB. Markets are forward looking. The announcement is already accounted for in the price. I've wondered if there might be some people currently selling prior to the hard fork - maybe they've had problems with other coins in the past ... so just in case they're selling some now - and planning to buy back afterward. But, really, the impact for this hard fork is more long-term (6 to 18 months) ... it lays out a foundation by improving the speed and capacity of the DGB protocol. It's a good development. It's more evidence of the strong development strategy, and the clear focus and goals that Jared (and the whole DGB team) work toward. It adds capacity, not volume. It's another feather in our hat.
Jumbley's graphic of the DGB iceberg sinking the BTC titanic is relevant here. BTC is working to address the same problem - to increase the speed and capacity of their network. There was an article about it in CoinDesk a couple of weeks ago. DGB is already better positioned for micropayments, and this hard fork will make the case even stronger - to provide a foundation that merchants and customers can trust and use - etc., etc.. So, in the long-term is should lay the foundation for a higher valuation, but it should be a slow and steady process of adding and developing the volume and infrastructure.
