Overview
Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) was created via a hard fork of Bitcoin at block 495,866 on November 24, 2017, during the peak of the Bitcoin fork craze. The fork was initiated by anonymous developers known as "Team EVEY" and "Team 007." Bitcoin holders received 10 BCD for every 1 BTC held at the fork block.
The stated goals were to solve Bitcoin's "high transaction fees and slow confirmation times" by increasing block size to 8MB, reducing transaction fees, and making the network more accessible by multiplying the supply 10x (making units cheaper in absolute terms). These were the same arguments made by Bitcoin Cash months earlier, and Bitcoin Diamond offered no meaningful differentiation.
Bitcoin Diamond is a relic of the 2017 fork mania -- a period where dozens of Bitcoin forks launched hoping to capture value through airdrop mechanics rather than genuine technical innovation. Most of these forks are now defunct or irrelevant, and BCD falls squarely in that category.
Technology
BCD uses a modified Bitcoin codebase with increased block size (8MB vs Bitcoin's effective ~4MB with SegWit) and the X13 mining algorithm (later changed to BCD hash, an Optimized X13). The 10x supply multiplication is cosmetic -- it doesn't change the economic properties, only the unit denomination.
The chain supports SegWit and has implemented Lightning Network compatibility in theory, though no meaningful Lightning activity exists on BCD. Block times remain approximately 10 minutes. The technical changes are trivial modifications to Bitcoin's parameters with no novel engineering contribution. Development activity is near-zero, with the GitHub repository showing minimal commits in recent years.
Security
BCD's security depends on its hashrate, which has declined to negligible levels compared to Bitcoin. The network is vulnerable to 51% attacks given the low mining participation. The X13 derivative mining algorithm is shared with few other chains, providing limited hashrate security.
No high-profile attacks have been reported, but this reflects the low value at risk rather than robust security. The anonymous founding team and lack of ongoing security maintenance create additional risk. There are no regular security audits or active bug bounty programs.
Adoption
Adoption is effectively zero. BCD has been delisted from most major exchanges. On-chain transaction volume is negligible. No merchants accept BCD, no dApps exist on the network, and no active community maintains the project. CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko still track BCD, but it has fallen out of the top 500 by market cap.
The project had brief speculative interest during 2017-2018 as traders collected airdropped coins from the Bitcoin fork, but this mechanical demand evaporated once the fork coins were sold. There was never organic adoption driven by genuine use cases.
Decentralization
Mining is distributed across a small number of pools, but the total miner count is minimal. The anonymous founding team means there is no identifiable leadership, which could be considered decentralized in theory but in practice means there is no one maintaining or developing the project.
Node count is extremely low. The network persists through inertia rather than active participation. There is no governance mechanism or community decision-making process.
Tokenomics
Total supply is 210 million BCD (10x Bitcoin's 21 million). The 10x airdrop ratio was a marketing gimmick -- making coins "cheaper" per unit without changing fundamental economics. There is no staking, no burns, and no demand mechanisms beyond speculative trading.
Circulating supply is high relative to whatever residual market cap exists. Liquidity is minimal, with wide bid-ask spreads on remaining exchanges. The token's primary function is as a reminder of 2017's fork mania excess.
Risk Factors
- Effective abandonment: No active development, maintenance, or community
- 51% attack vulnerability: Negligible hashrate makes the network trivially attackable
- Exchange delistings: Progressively losing exchange support
- Zero utility: No use case, merchant adoption, or ecosystem
- Anonymous team: No identifiable developers maintaining the codebase
- Liquidity risk: Thin markets make meaningful positions impossible to exit
Conclusion
Bitcoin Diamond is a cautionary example of the 2017 Bitcoin fork phenomenon -- projects that offered trivial parameter changes to Bitcoin's code and relied on airdrop mechanics for initial distribution. BCD provided nothing that Bitcoin Cash hadn't already offered with greater community support. The anonymous team, zero development activity, and negligible adoption make this a dead project in all but name. It persists on some exchanges and price trackers, but there is no rational basis for investment or usage.