Bitcoin competitors are being built in ex-Google coders' laptops

Bitcoin’s seemingly unstoppable surge to record highs isn’t deterring competitors.

Former Silicon Valley developers are working on at least two new versions of the digital currency. Basecoin is seeking to solve bitcoin’s volatility with a team of former Google coders that are building what they hope will be a more stable version of the cryptocurrency. Cypherium has former Google, Amazon and Microsoft developers building a blockchain that aims to be able to handle an expanded workload more easily.

Competition isn’t new for bitcoin as there are over 1,000 different blockchains, the technology used for verifying and recording transactions that’s at the heart