Month: October 2018

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SIBCoin

What is SIBCoin?

SIBCoin is a decentralized digital currency and peer2peer payment platform. It was forked from the Dash blockchain but with major tweaks such as enhanced encryption. The platform was created by Russian cryptographers in 2015 to advance the gains achieved in the blockchain system.

A coin initially crafted to cater to the Siberian community

The coin was originally designed to act as an altcoin for the Siberian region. It targeted to address the needs of the Russian speaking community to reach the Eastern European region that had been left because of cultural barriers.

However, it was later adopted by the neighboring countries and finally went overseas.

The users in the SIBCoin users interact directly and form a network where transactions are recorded on a public ledger that is tamper-proof and distributed across all computers in the system.

The platform employs a reinforced hashing algorithm referred as Streebog that is ASIC resistant.

In their white paper, the development team refers to SIBCoin as the coin of the people, by the people, for the people. The network’s Coinprism protocol also supports custom-made digital assets.

The SIBCoin price performance in the market

Since inception in 2015, SIBCoin performance has been very impressive in the market.  When SIBCoin entered the market in September 2015, its price was $0.0052. The price remained within the same range until April 2016 when it grew significantly with more than 1500% to reach $0.08.

After the price surge of April, the value fell back to $0.04 and remained within the range of $0.07 until October when it started rising steadily. In July 2017, the price of SibCoin broke through the 1 dollar mark.

The price continued to grow and hit the highest mark of $5.14 December 27th, 2017. This was the highest mark in the coin’s history.

Starting in early January 2018, the price took a steady decline that culminated to $0.2. Though this was a major drop in the value of about 2400%, it is more than 3900% higher compared to the opening price recorded in September 2015.

What is the problem that SIBCoin Solves?

While major successes have been achieved in the blockchain industry, the community feels that the uptake of the technology has hit a snag.  SIBCoin is seeking to provide every person with the opportunity to become part of a fair economy.

With the cryptocurrencies becoming the currencies of the future, the SIBCoin development team felt they wanted to address the following key problems.

  • Lack of privacy

When Bitcoin was created, many people felt that they had finally gotten a reliable method for running transactions anonymously. But, the Bitcoin network only provides users with pseudonyms that can be trailed to reveal the user’s personal and transaction details.

However, some people in the blockchain communities have been asking; “Why fork Dash which is considered one of the most secure blockchains?” In their white paper, the development team wanted to make SIBCoin the platform for the next generation cryptocurrency. Therefore, users enjoy all the features present in the Dash platform and newer ones introduced by the development team.

  • Centralized mining and associated high cost of energy

When decentralized networks were discovered, the primary goal was to ensure that people could send value and run transactions without worrying about suffering from one point of failure. This was the main dream that Satoshi Nakamoto took a lot of time to make come true. However, the evolving industry resulted in the development of advanced mining equipment especially those referred to as Application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

The ASICs mining equipment is designed to generate very high hashing power to optimize returns. However, the ASICs very expensive and require a lot of power. The impact is that only a few very wealthy people can afford them resulting in the centralization of mining.

When only a few wealthy people can afford the mining equipment, it further implies that the coins are at risk of falling in the hands of a very few individuals. This raises the danger of the network suffering from 51%. SIBCoin wants to address these concerns by making the entire system completely decentralized.

  • Poor scalability

The discovery of decentralized networks and blockchain technology was a major success in helping to take the financial sector to the next level. However, the fact that all or most of the nodes are required to arrive at a consensus before transactions can be completed has held hostage the blockchain platforms.

At Bitcoin, the network can only support seven transactions every second, and it requires an additional 60 minutes for confirmations. Even the Bitcoin Cash that is considered a major improvement of the Bitcoin Core protocol can only support 61 transactions and requires about 60 minutes for confirmation to be made.

Other networks with higher scalability include Ethereum that confirms transactions in 6 minutes and IOTA that supports 1500 transactions/ second and confirms them in every two minutes. SIBCoin targets to address this transaction speed to ensure that more people including traders can use the platform without a serious backlog.

How does SibCoin solve the problem?

When SibCoin was created in 2015, the development team had been involved with other top blockchains such as Bitcoin and Dash. Therefore, they ensured that all the gains of these earlier networks were consolidated and newer technologies adopted to address the issues. Here are some of the solutions used at SIBCoin.

The Streebog consensus algorithm

The Streebog algorithm is a successor of another algorithm referred to as GOST. GOST was a Soviet government standard symmetry key block cipher that utilized a block size of 64 bits. Now, Streebog is a cryptographic hash function designed to replace GOST.

Streebog is a family of 2 hashes, the Streebog-256 and Streebog-512. The new algorithm is very useful in the SIBCoin because it is ASIC resistant. This implies that the SIBCoin can be mined with standard GPU and the risk of the coins falling into the hands of only a few coins is eliminated.

Three advanced privacy protocols

One of the main things that SIBCoin development team took very seriously was privacy. The first protocol is RingCT that acts as privacy barriers and also hides transaction information on the network. The other protocol used to enhance privacy is ring signatures. These are used to hide the addresses of the sender and making it impossible for third parties to know your details.

The last method used in the platform is the stealth addresses. This protocol helps to conceal the addresses of the receiver by generating multiple public addresses. Unlike in the Bitcoin network where third parties can trail transactions and pin together details to know the recipient, SIBCoin is different. The stealth addresses give the impression that the recipients are different though they ultimately point at the same public address.

SIBCoin, like Dash and Monero, is now classified as one of the completely private networks. This implies that users do not have to worry about their personal or transaction details when using the network.

The SIBCoin platform’s X-Layer

To address the problem of scalability, SIBCoin adopted the X-Layer technology that was developed by Nokia in 2014. The main focus of X-Layer is helping to transact large data in real-time without compromising other protocols. This technology is used when transferring funds from sender to receiver when purchasing goods and services.

In addition to the outlined technologies, SIBCoin also adopted most of the features used by Dash. Here are some of them.

  • PrivateSend: This ensures that all transactions are made in a completely private way.
  • InstantSend: This feature is used to ensure that transactions are made promptly and irreversibly between sender and receiver.
  • Telegram Bot: This is a personal assistant designed to help run payment processes in a more user-friendly model.
  • Exchange and payment: This is a convenient feature that allows users to pay telecom bills through Coinex. The feature allows users also to buy USD or Euro directly using SIBCoins.

What makes SIBCoin better than it’s competitors?

From its design to implementation, the SIBCoin development team targeted to make the platform better than its competitors. Here are some of the things that make it better than the competitors.

  • While many cryptocurrencies have been grappling with the problem of privacy, the SIBCoin has managed to come up with a reliable solution. This implies that users sending funds or using the platform to store their funds can rest knowing that no third party can easily pull out their details.
  • The platform is a completely decentralized system which implies that it does not have a single point of failure. All the transactions are taken and confirmed by nodes spread in the system before being confirmed. It does not rely on centralized organizations the way it happens with banks and credit card companies.
  • The platform is ASIC resistant. This implies that users do not need advanced and expensive mining equipment such as ASICs. This has made it easy for more people to join and use the network in their daily lives.
  • SIBCoin supports faster and more transactions compared to other networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. This has made it a more reliable option especially by traders who want to transactions to clear fast without keeping clients on the queue.
  • The platform was launched in 2015 and, therefore, considered more stable compared to emerging blockchains. Many people have become wary about new platforms because some are designed to simply operate as a pump and dump scheme. However, SIBCoin has been in the market for more than three years, and its structures have been tested and proven highly reliable.

How can SIBCoin be categorized?

SIBCoin can be categorized as a truly decentralized and private network. The primary focus of the development team to advance the gains made by Dash and to take the blockchain to the next level has made more people believe that its value could grow and even surpass top coins such as Bitcoin.

At a time when the regulatory environment has become very uncertain, the SIBCoin is expected to continue growing in demand and value because people are assured that their details cannot be easily pulled out by third parties. This is part of the reason why the value in the third quarter was more than 3900% compared to when it first hit the market.

What is SIBCoin’s vision on Security?

 

The primary goal of SIBCoin is to ensure that users can enjoy completely decentralized and transactions. People coming to the network are assured of their details and coins security using the following strategies:

  • Advanced cryptography.
  • Advanced privacy features such as Ring Signatures and Stealth addresses.
  • The Streebog algorithm used at the network helps to ensure that more people can mine and participate in consensus building to reduce the danger of 51% attack.
  • The development team has indicated that it is progressively updating the protocol to ensure that it identifies gaps and vulnerabilities easily. Then, these gaps are closed promptly to prevent the danger of getting attacked.

Examples of SIBCoin’s use cases/ applications.

Like Dash, Bitcoin was designed with the primary goal of facilitating faster, peer2peer and cheaper payment processing. Here are the main use cases of SIBCoin.

  • SIBCoin can be used to pay for transaction charges at the SIBCoin network and in the exchanges when sending value across the globe.
  • The coin can be used in paying for goods and services in stores that accept them. This process has been made simpler with Moneypolo and Coinex that allows users to easily convert SIBCoin to fiat when making payments in conventional stores.
  • For people who want to invest or save their funds, the SIBCoin platform has proven to be a better network. Because of its unique features and fast-growing community, the value of SIBCoin is expected to grow in the coming years. Therefore, those who buy and hold their coins can expect to reap optimally when the price of the coin finally increases.
  • Use SIBCoin to send value across the globe. Unlike the standard banking systems that are centralized, SIBCoin is completely decentralized. This implies that sending value is instant, cheaper, and highly reliable.
  • Trade SIBCoin in the markets. Like other coins such as Bitcoin, SIBCoin can be traded in the exchanges such as Binance and Bittrex. Note that you will be required to join such exchanges by creating trading accounts and forming trading pairs.

https://sibcoin.money/site/sibcoin_en.pdf

https://coincheckup.com/coins/sibcoin/chart

https://wallet.sbccoin.io/

 

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VeriCoin

What is VeriCoin?

VeriCoin is a decentralized and open source cryptocurrency designed to use the proof-of-stake-time protocol as a method of addressing deficiencies identified in the blockchain industry.

The platform was created after a careful evaluation of the industry and the myriads of problems it was going through by 2013.

The founders and their target

The founders of VeriCoin platform, Douglas Pike and Patrick Nosker, started working on the platform in 2012 and completed the protocol in 2013.

However, it was not until 2014 that they were able to launch the system officially.

The development of the platform is done by a decentralized team spread across the globe to help identify new features and upgrade the platform for enhanced security. The native currency on the platform is referred to as VRC.

The performance of VeriCoin native coin

A closer look at the performance of VeriCoin in the market reveals that its price has grown significantly.

When it entered the market around May 2014, the price was $0.008. This price grew by 2400% to reach $0.2 by the close of June 2014.

But the value took a downward trend in the subsequent months reaching a low of $0.01 in mid-December 2014.

Between December 2014 and April 2017, the price of VeriCoin ranged between $0.05 and $0.01. The price of VeriCoin grew past $1 mark in mid-December 2017 and continued rising to hit $2.2 in early January, the highest mark in its history. Even with this growth, the gains were short-lived.

Between January 2018 and September 2018, the value of VeriCoin fell by more than 1000% to settle at $0.16. Despite this drop, the value was still 1900% higher than the opening price when the coin hit the market in 2014.

What is the problem that VeriCoin solves?

While the blockchain niche has advanced at a very fast pace starting from 2009, the adoption in the society has slowed down. The blockchain experts hold the view that these networks have reached a point where a new focus is needed to propel the niche to the next level. Here are some of the problems that VeriCoin seeks to address.

  • Centralization of blockchain systems

A closer look at the blockchain networks that use proof of work (PoW) and proof of stake (PoS) consensus algorithms indicates that they are at high risk of suffering from centralization. At Bitcoin, it is no longer possible for people to mine the network using standard equipment such as GPU and CPU.

Instead, miners have to buy very expensive ASIC mining equipment and meet the associated high cost of power. The high cost implies that only the wealthy can mine and own the tokens.

Even the more improved proof of stake (PoS) still puts a lot of weight on those who have more funds to secure the network. This compromises the original goal of decentralization because the less wealthy are left out. VeriCoin targets to address these issues by through enhanced decentralization.

  • Poor scalability

One issue with the blockchain niche is that has persisted for some time is the inability to scale the supported transactions. This is a problem created by the design of decentralized networks that required most nodes to come to a consensus before transactions can be completed.

At Bitcoin, the platform can only support seven transactions/ second while Ethereum can only achieve a total of 25 transactions/ second. This is far too few when compared to the industry leaders such as VISA that can hit a maximum of 24,000 transactions/ second.

VeriCoin targets to become the most scalable blockchain in the industry.

  • Insecurity in the blockchain networks

When people join the blockchain niche, the risk of getting attacked and losing their coins is never far. There is a danger of getting hacked and losing the native tokens at the native network level, on the wallet, or the exchanges.

When reports of attacks are reported in any blockchain network or facility, the community is left wondering if will be the next target. The recent attack in the blockchain industry took place at Coincheck exchange in January 2018 where about $520 million worth of altcoins were lost.

How does VeriCoin solve the problem?

  • Adoption of a new consensus model referred to as proof-of-stake-time

To address the problem of centralized networks and risk of 51% attack, the founders of VeriCoin opted for a new consensus protocol referred to as proof of stake time (POST).

This is achieved by adding a non-linear proof function on the proof of stake (PoS) algorithm.

In their white paper, the development team explains that the additional function helps to define a fraction of stake’s active and idle time, at a given block.

The idle-time is a fraction of the age that no longer supports the distribution of consensus and commences upgrading it.

The new protocol enhances the security of the system while ensuring that the efficiencies of the PoS are maintained. It utilizes the time function to ensure that rewards and the probability to find new blocks increases in proportion to active staking time.

With the VeriCoin’s consensus algorithm, simply buying a lot of stakes will not be enough to give you an added advantage when mining the native coins. This means that even for those with a smaller stake but more active in the network will have a chance to mine new blocks and get rewarded.

  • The binary chain model

The VeriCoin system was created to help consolidate the advantages of proof of stake (PoS) and proof of work (PoS). The main goal is ensuring that the transaction speed remains high while advancing the security of the network.

The combination helped to extend the reach of the network to people who prefer using their stake and hashing power of their systems to be accommodated in the network. It is the reason why the community has been growing at a very fast rate.

  • Enhanced availability and interest for users

To encourage more people to join, VeriCoin offers users an annual discount of 10%. You only need to stake the native coins to benefit. This implies that you do not have to worry about resolving complex puzzles the way it happens with networks such as Bitcoin to earn from your stake in the network.

The approach has helped to win more users especially those targeting to invest or simply buy and hold. Instead of putting funds in with no interest rates or the rates are very low, people prefer the more rewarding VeriCoin.

To make the native coins easily accessible, the development team has been working with very many exchanges. You can buy the tokens in exchanges such as Bittrex, CoinEgg, Cryptopia, and Poloniex.

  • The VeriCoin operates as a completely decentralized protocol

The VeriCoin is a decentralized network of nodes that are involved in the platform’s governance. The most important of these is confirming transactions when users are sending value.

The nodes follow back the respective users to confirm that they own the coins they want to send. Note that the information is encrypted so that users can only check the balance as opposed to the personal details.

The decentralized nature of the VeriCoin platform implies that there is no single point of failure. The nodes also help to protect the network and keep the cost of sending value as low as possible.

What makes VeriCoin better than it’s competitors?

The creators of the VeriCoin wanted to ensure that the platform was better than its competitors by adopting more progressive features. Here are the main things that make the network better than competitors.

  • The network is run by a highly aggressive team that is always looking for new features such as the staking interest to make the platform more competitive in the market.
  • The VeriCoin is a completely decentralized system which implies that it does not have a single point of failure.
  • The network has succeeded in addressing the danger that comes with centralized mining by employing the proof-of-stake-time.
  • To ensure that the platform is more impressive and reliable, the design of the core code combines both proof of stake and proof of work.
  • Though the value of the VeriCoin was on a downward trend between January and September 2018, it is still performing relatively well. This means that the value is higher than the entry point in 2014. It is also more valuable than other cryptocurrencies such as Stealth and Databits.
  • VeriCoin is about ten times faster than Bitcoin. The development team has indicated that it will keep working on improving the platform to make it even more scalable to compete with other leaders such as PayPal and Visa.

How can VeriCoin be categorized?

VeriCoin is one of the creative cryptocurrency networks designed to help address most of the problems reported in the blockchain network. The creative development team has expressed its commitment to using new technologies to remain more competitive in the market.

When the development team worked on the core code, it opted for the unique yet highly effective proof of stake time (POST) but combined key elements of PoW and PoS to make the platform more appealing. This is one of the reasons it has been referred to as the platform that could help to redefine the blockchain’s future.

VeriCoin’s vision on security?

The primary vision of VeriCoin is to become the most secure and progressive cryptocurrency network. The development team had seen the threats that faced other networks such as direct attacks by hackers.

To keep the network secure, the development team opted for advanced encryption, complete decentralization, and the reliable proof-of-stake-time. The platform also features a highly aggressive team that works and releases updates to address emerging vulnerabilities.

Examples of VeriCoin’s use cases/ applications.

VeriCoin, like other blockchain networks, is in the race to getting adopted by a larger community and increasing the applications. Though the competition is stiff, here are some of the top use cases for VeriCoin.

  • Paying transaction fee at VeriCoin network when sending value.

If you want to send value on a peer2peer basis using the VeriCoin platform, the VeriCoin coin will be required to pay the transaction fee. This is a very small amount compared to what the standard banks charge for wire transfers or credit cards.

Note that the transaction fee is not charged as a profit. Rather, it is used to raise funds for supporting the network development and paying interest to VeriCoin stakers.

  • Trading in the markets.

Like the conventional currencies are traded in the forex markets, the cryptocurrencies are traded in the crypto exchanges. You can trade the VeriCoin by identifying an appropriate exchange such as Poloniex and pairing it with other tokens such as ETH or XRP.

Note that most exchanges are centralized and, therefore, users are required to start by opening trading accounts and verifying them. Remember that the price of the selected cryptocurrency pair is determined by the market forced forces of demand and supply.

  • Buying goods and services in the market.

As more traders continue accepting cryptocurrencies, it is becoming possible to pay for goods and services using digital coins such as VeriCoin. Note that even if a specific store only supports a different coin, it is still possible to buy by changing to the supported coin.

  • Paying taxes in departments of jurisdictions that support digital coins.

For people who reside in jurisdictions that support and accept cryptocurrencies, it is possible to use VeriCoin for paying taxes and other government services. One good example is Singapore.

Early in 2018, the Singapore administration indicated that there is no difference between paying transaction charges using fiat and digital coins. The primary goal is relaying value.

In the United States, individual states have started crafting laws that allow users to pay taxes using digital coins. In Arizona, the state passed Bill HB 1091 that allows tax department to accept payment in cryptocurrencies.  Therefore, you can pay for taxes using VeriCoin.

  • Investing and saving.

If you have been looking for a reliable way to save funds and enjoy some returns on investment, VeriCoin might be a reliable method. The good thing with the VeriCoin system is that it allows users to enjoy investing without worrying about third-party seizures.

The impressive features such as the unique proof-of-stake-time have made the community and experts agree that the price of VeriCoin is likely to go up. However, it is important to appreciate that this prediction is speculative and the actual trend will depend on different factors such as the looming regulation.

https://vericoin.info/

https://coincheckup.com/coins/vericoin/charts