Ripple CTO Weighs In on Bitcoin: Can It Be Replicated?

Ripple CTO David Schwartz has weighed in on the ongoing discussion in the market regarding Bitcoin.

Reactions were triggered across the crypto community when Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao and one of Bitcoin's most vocal critics, Peter Schiff, engaged in a Bitcoin versus gold debate at the recently concluded Binance Blockchain Week in Dubai, UAE.

The debate reached its high point when Zhao pulled out a gold bar and asked Schiff to verify if it was real. Schiff answered in the negative: "I don’t know," as he would be unable to verify it without having extra tools.

The London Bullion Market Association confirms there is only one method to verify gold with 100% certainty, which is fire assaying.

Zhao seized the moment to push the point that Bitcoin transactions are verified instantly, on the blockchain, while gold still struggles with basic authentication.

Joining the discussion stemming from this specific incident, an X user asked how long it would take to replicate Bitcoin. "Create a new one, exactly the same. How much would it cost?" the X user inquired.

Schwartz, waving aside this assumption, asked: "How could it both be new and exactly the same? And how would the existence of replicas of bitcoin affect bitcoin?"

1 BTC = 1 BTC

The "BTC = 1 BTC" slogan remains a well-used phrase in the crypto market.

The "1 BTC = 1 BTC" corrects the notion that when the price of Bitcoin goes down, it loses its value. This price reduction is, however, only in terms of its relationship to fiat currency. In reality, one Bitcoin is still equal to one Bitcoin.

This knocks out the speculation of Bitcoin replicas, given that there are only 21 million Bitcoin (BTC) to be mined in total. The fixed supply of Bitcoin means that there will only ever be 21 million coins in circulation. As of press time, Bitcoin's total supply is 19,957,806 BTC with 1,042,194 coins left to be mined out of the fixed 21 million supply.